OKEECHOBEE — Fifteen people were arrested this week by the Okeechobee Narcotics Task Force for reportedly selling drugs during a recent ongoing undercover drug operation staged in Okeechobee County.
According to arrest reports, all 15 sold narcotics to confidential sources during the operation. Task force detectives then applied for and received arrest warrants. Those warrants were then executed Dec. 20 and Dec. 21.
Sheriff-elect Major Noel Stephen, of the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office, said he plans to continue the battle against illegal narcotics the same as retiring sheriff Paul May promised he would do throughout his tenure.
“I’m going to continue to fight the war on drugs into the future,” said Maj. Stephen, adding that drugs are the number-one threat to the community and the youth of Okeechobee County.
All of those arrested were booked into the Okeechobee County Jail.
Arrested were:
• Leonard Alexander, 61, N.E. 13th Ave., Okeechobee. He was charged with the sale of cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to sell. He was released on his own recognizance.
• Jayme Lee Casanova, 26, N.E. 34th St., Okeechobee. He was charged with sale of a controlled substance (marijuana) and possession of marijuana with intent to sell. He is being held on $60,000 bond.
• Damon Lee Cook, 37, N.W. 38th Ave., Okeechobee. He was charged with sale of a controlled substance (hydromorphone) and possession of a controlled substance (hydromorphone) with intent to sell. He is being held on $50,000 bond.
• Tony Allen Harlow Jr., 35, N.W. 36th St., Okeechobee. He was charged with sale of a controlled substance (hydromorphone) and possession of a controlled substance with (hydromorphone) with intent to sell. He is being held on $60,000 bond.
• Derrick James Hollis, 48, N.E. 16th Ave., Okeechobee. He was charged with two counts of sale of a controlled substance (hydromorphone). He is being held on $50,000 bond.
• Mark Bailey Harrell, 52, S.W. Second St., Okeechobee. He was charged with sale of a controlled substance (hydromorphone) and possession of a controlled substance (hydromorphone) with intent to sell. He is being held on $60,000 bond.
• James David Hatfield, 51, N.E. 11th Court, Okeechobee. He was charged with sale of a controlled substance (hydromorphone) and possession of a controlled substance (hydromorphone) with intent to sell. He is being held on $50,000 bond.
• Jose Luis Hernandez-Dominguez, 50, N.W. 35th Ave., Okeechobee. He was charged with sale of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) with intent to sell. He is being held on $50,000 bond.
• Teresa Marie Holloman, 48, N.W. 36th Terrace, Okeechobee. She was charged with two counts of sale of a controlled substance (hydromorphone). She is being held on $50,000 bond.
• Aaron Jay Locklear, 28, N.W. 47th Terrace, Okeechobee. He was charged with sale of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) with intent to sell. He is being held on $70,000 bond.
• Lougene Mack, 54, N.E. 13th Ave., Okeechobee. He was charged with two counts of sale of a controlled substance (cocaine) and two counts of possession of a controlled substance (cocaine) with intent to sell. He is being held on $100,000 bond.
Terry Terrill McQueen Jr., 29
• Terry Terrill McQueen Jr., 29, N.E. Second St., Okeechobee. He was charged with the sale of a controlled substance (cocaine) within 1,000 feet of a park and possession of a controlled substance (cocaine) with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a park. He is being held on $150,000 bond.
• Erica Inez Seals, 36, S.E. 34th Lane, Okeechobee. She was charged with the sale of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) with intent to sell. She is being held on $35,000 bond.
• Randale Lee Wilkinson, 32, S.E. 23rd Court, Okeechobee. He was charged with the sale of a controlled substance (hydromorphone) and possession of a controlled substance (hydromorphone) with intent to sell. He is being held on $60,000 bond.
Three people were also arrested on probable cause charges while task force detectives were serving their arrest warrants.
In the case of Damon Cook, when detectives entered the home to arrest him they found him asleep in the bed. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans. When they escorted him outside the home and searched him one of the detectives reportedly found a small metal container. Inside that container the detective allegedly found a small plastic baggie that held a substance that turned out to be meth.
That suspected meth weighed .6 grams, stated an arrest affidavit.
Cook was charged with possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and his bond on that charge has been set at $5,000.
Detectives apparently also found a controlled substance on Tony Allen Harlow, stated an arrest report.
As Harlow was being arrested, a task force detective was searching him for weapons when he allegedly found two pink pills that were identified as morphine.
He was then charged with possession of a controlled substance (morphine) without a prescription and carrying a medication outside a prescribed container, which is a misdemeanor.
Harlow’s bond on those two charges has been set at $5,500.
In a third case, James David Hatfield Jr. was allegedly getting ready to “shoot up” when a task force detective saw him sitting in a van outside the home of his father — James David Hatfield Sr. — for whom detectives had an arrest warrant.
According to the detective’s arrest report, the younger Hatfield was seen “… with a black eyeglass case, a metal spoon, cut straw, a bottle cap with water, a syringe and a large rubber band in his lap.”
The detective went on to point out he reportedly found a white powder inside the cut straw. That powder was tested and that test indicated a positive result for the presence of morphine, continued the arrest report.
Hatfield Jr., 24, of a N.E. 30th Ave. address in Okeechobee, was arrested on a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance (morphine), and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
He is being held in the county jail on a $5,500 bond.
To those selling drugs in Okeechobee, Maj. Stephen offered this warning: “It’s not a matter of if you will be arrested, but when.”