State attorney: Osceola sheriff’s claims about lack of drug trafficking prosecution ‘disingenuous’

The Orange-Osceola state attorney is defending the actions of her office after the Osceola County sheriff claimed drug traffickers weren’t being prosecuted.

“For the sheriff to take the stand if you will and tell you all that zero were prosecuted is disingenuous,” State Attorney Monique Worrell said.

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It is the latest in the back-and-forth between her office and local law enforcement.

On Monday, Worrell spoke about how long it takes for these cases to go through the system.

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She said that’s part of the problem with some of the statements made by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office last week, stating 36 cases for drug trafficking presented to her office in 2022 are still pending and being reviewed right now.

“When I go to court, I have to go with facts,” Worrell said.

Sheriff Marcos Lopez said last week that out of the 73 people his agency arrested in 2022, zero had been prosecuted. “That’s pretty sad,” Lopez said.

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Worrell said that statement from the sheriff is not true, and that 13 drug trafficking cases resulted in a three-year sentence or higher in 2022.

“The sheriff knows, as does everyone, that it’s very unlikely for a drug trafficking case to be resolved in the same year that an arrest is made,” Worrell said.

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She instead pointed to these numbers saying out of the 68 cases presented for drug trafficking to her office by the sheriff’s office, 36 are still pending. She said 12 cases were downgraded due to testing results, and another 12 were dropped because of evidence issues with deputy investigations.

“The evidence that they’re presenting is insufficient for us to be able to prove cases beyond a reasonable doubt,” Worrell said.

Worrell ultimately called for cooperation instead of politics.

Read: Osceola County sheriff criticizes state attorney’s office over drug trafficking cases

“When we choose politics over public safety the community suffers from that,” she said.

Worrell said she invited the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office to a workshop her office is hosting in April to build better cases. She said both Orange County and Orlando police have confirmed they will send deputies, but Osceola County has not confirmed whether it will attend.

The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office did put out a statement Monday saying that Lopez stands behind his deputies’ efforts and reiterated that criminals need to be prosecuted.

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