A total of 14 people are facing charges after a Lauderhill Police operation cracking down on the sale and distribution of illegal narcotics in the city, the police department announced Tuesday.
The seven-week investigation, dubbed “Operation Neighborhood Shield,” centered around the Lauderhill Gardens Townhouses community in the 4000 block of Northwest 19th Street and a convenience store in the 90 block of Northwest 34th Avenue, Jimmy’s Supermarket. Chief Constance Stanley told reporters Tuesday afternoon that the investigation began based on information from officers patrolling the neighborhoods and from residents’ complaints.
Detectives surveilled the areas for as much as 70 hours in total throughout the investigation, worked with confidential informants, executed a search warrant at Jimmy’s Supermarket and made nearly two dozen controlled purchases of cocaine, crack cocaine, cannabis and the synthetic drug a-PVP, commonly known as flakka, according to a news release and probable cause affidavits.
Detectives documented alleged drug sales both inside and immediately outside Jimmy’s Supermarket during the store’s business hours, and suspected illegal narcotics were also recovered “from or located among ordinary store merchandise and other common areas,” the police department said in the news release.
Lauderhill Police recovered suspected illegal narcotics “among ordinary store merchandise and other common areas” at Jimmy’s Supermarket during Operation Neighborhood Shield, the department said. (Lauderhill Police Department/Courtesy)
While searching the convenience store, investigators allegedly found 32 individually packaged baggies of flakka, weighing just over 7 grams, “hidden among merchandise,” the news release said.
Stanley said Tuesday afternoon that some of those arrested were employed at the store, which is still operating. She said there would be court proceedings “to see if we can pull their license and shut the store down.”
The operation resulted in charges including sale of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a convenience
store, selling cannabis within 1,000 feet of a child care facility, deliver cannabis within 1,000 feet of a convenience business, deliver cocaine within 1,000 feet of a child care facility and conspiracy to sell cannabis within 1,000 feet of a convenience store.