{"id":1364,"date":"2025-10-14T04:30:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T04:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/1364\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T04:30:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T04:30:20","slug":"drug-mule-caught-with-15-pounds-of-fentanyl-headed-for-jacksonville-next-stop-is-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/1364\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug mule caught with 15 pounds of fentanyl headed for Jacksonville. Next stop is prison."},"content":{"rendered":"

Facing a long federal prison term, a man pulled over in a Georgia traffic stop has pleaded guilty to his role as a drug mule<\/a> caught driving 15 pounds of fentanyl<\/a> to Jacksonville in his SUV.<\/p>\n

Kennedy Avina-Aurello told investigators he\u2019d been paid $3,000 to deliver a box of drugs that was put in the back of his Toyota 4Runner at an Advance Auto Parts parking lot outside Atlanta, according to a plea agreement<\/a> filed Oct. 9 in Jacksonville\u2019s federal court.<\/p>\n

The delivery plan fell apart when he was pulled over by South Georgia police who called a state trooper with a drug-sniffing dog, said a summary in the plea agreement where Avina-Aurello admitted conspiring to possess with intent to distribute<\/a> more than 400 grams of fentanyl.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This photo shows a combination of fentanyl and heroin that police in Onondaga County, N.Y. seized during an investigation that produced 17 arrests announced in October.<\/p>\n

2024: U.S. Attorney: Florida shows decrease in fentanyl deaths for the first time in 12 years<\/a><\/p>\n

The agreement said the SUV held seven kilograms, or 7,000 grams \u2013 15.4 pounds \u2013 of fentanyl, a remarkable haul for police to intercept in a traffic stop.<\/p>\n

For perspective, the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office touted results in January of a yearlong investigation dubbed \u201cJacob\u2019s Ladder\u201d<\/a> targeting a drug network tied to Mexico\u2019s Gulf Cartel.<\/p>\n

That investigation seized 2.3 kilograms of fentanyl, about five pounds, which the Sheriff’s Office described in a video<\/a> posted on YouTube as enough for \u201cmore than a million lethal doses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This plastic bag holds fentanyl that police in Jasper County, S.C. seized on Interstate 95 in May.<\/p>\n

JSO\u2019s investigation also seized large amounts of cocaine, marijuana and MDMA.<\/p>\n

An anti-drug initiative<\/a> the state operated across Florida for two years had seized 485 pounds of fentanyl and 63,000 fentanyl pills by September, when Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated successes the governor\u2019s office said had eliminated \u201cenough fentanyl to kill more than 100 million people.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear whether Avina-Aurello\u2019s case will matter for continuing efforts to interrupt drug shipments.<\/p>\n

The driver, who told investigators he\u2019d earned about $20,000 making several deliveries around Florida, Atlanta and the Carolinas, didn\u2019t know a name for the person who was supposed to receive the shipment in Jacksonville, the plea agreement said. Avina-Aurello told investigators he thought at first he was delivering cocaine, the agreement said.<\/p>\n

A man who planned the shipment gave him a route to follow and a final delivery spot, telling him to stay off Interstate 75, but Avina-Aurello said his handler would have \u201ccoordinated the transaction\u201d when he got to Jacksonville, according to the agreement. <\/p>\n

Avina-Aurello\u2019s conviction requires a minimum punishment of 10 years in prison with a possibility of a life sentence behind bars. His sentencing hasn\u2019t been scheduled.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Drug mule bringing 15 pounds of fentanyl to Jacksonville faces prison<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facing a long federal prison term, a man pulled over in a Georgia traffic stop has pleaded guilty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2024,2025,2023,2022,2026,116,118,117,2021],"class_list":{"0":"post-1364","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-avina-aurello","9":"tag-drug-mule","10":"tag-federal-prison-term","11":"tag-fentanyl-pills","12":"tag-investigators","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","15":"tag-jacksonville-news","16":"tag-plea-agreement"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}