STUART, Fla. (CBS12) — The Martin County Sheriff’s Office says they’re seeing a decrease in the amount of fentanyl on the streets.
Lt. James Maltese of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office says this may be due to the closure of the U.S. border with Mexico. One result of this, he says, is a decrease in the number of fentanyl overdoses.
Narcotics detectives here say there’s less fentanyl on the streets.
There’s still an appetite for it, but Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek says it’s getting harder to get, and the most prevalent illegal drug now in Martin County is cocaine.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office is releasing bodycam video of a recent arrest of Tania Libeth Lopez Trigueros of Stuart, who is charged with trafficking in cocaine.
This is what they seized from her mobile home.
According to her arrest report: 26 bags of cocaine in a dresser drawer, three large Ziplock bags of cocaine in another drawer, and more than $1000.00 in cash in a dresser drawer.
“That’s a significant arrest for us. That’s half a kilo of cocaine. I know it was a small mobile home that you were at, but that’s how a lot of these drug traffickers hide,” Sheriff Budensiek said.
We got in touch with Lopez, 28, by going to her home.
She speaks little English, so she had a friend translate for her on the phone.
“They say you had a large amount of drugs in your home, over a thousand in cash. What exactly were you doing here?” we asked Trigueros. “Well, first of all, she’s not allowing you guys to do any interview. Second of all, she’s not allowing for guys to, that’s not okay for you guys to just show up there and do that,” her friend said over the phone as we attempted to get a comment from Trigueros.
One of her neighbors, who lives in the Sunshine Manor mobile home park, says it’s sad to see.
“It’s pretty sad when this neighborhood is supposed to be a safe neighborhood. They do our background checks and everything to make sure that everybody here doesn’t have any troubled background,” the neighbor said, who asked that we not identify her.
Beyond cocaine, Sheriff Budensiek says the decrease in fentanyl may be due to the closure of the U.S. border with Mexico.
Less fentanyl is crossing over, and less is getting into Martin County.
“The fentanyl trend was the worst trend that I think we’ve ever experienced here in the United States,” Sheriff Budensiek said.
Now the Sheriff is noticing fentanyl overdoses declining.
In 2022, Martin County reported 39 fentanyl overdoses.
In 2023, there were 46 fentanyl overdoses, 13 fentanyl overdoses in 2024, and 8 fentanyl overdoses in 2025.They’ve had two so far this year.