Florida Man Looking For Turtle Nests Finds Bricks Of Cocaine On Beach

In mid-June 2024, a man searching a Nassau County beach for sea turtle nests stumbled upon something very different: a bunch of cocaine bricks with an estimated street value of around $4 million. While drug smuggling is common in the waters surrounding Florida, it is much rarer to find contraband so far north. Regardless, if you are found with drugs of this caliber, no matter their provenance, it can lead to a lifetime’s worth of legal trouble for you.

A Long History Of Smuggling

Florida has a long history of drug smuggling, either by air, or by water from islands to the east and south. As early as 1920, with the passage of Prohibition, smugglers would bring alcohol from points southeast to the coasts of Florida by boat, and the practice has continued ever since – just with different substances being hauled. Once drugs arrive in the U.S., they are sold or otherwise distributed – with the buyers usually being the ones to bear any legal consequences.

A person who finds any kind of contraband on a beach must report it to the relevant authorities – usually the county sheriff’s department. If they try to claim any part of it, they run the risk of being charged with theft, given that Florida’s relevant statute states that one cannot “appropriate” lost or abandoned property for their own use. Failure to do this can result in being charged with theft, which can carry a long jail sentence if the stolen property is of high value.

Possessing Drugs Is A Felony

In general, law enforcement strongly recommends not even going near contraband of this nature if you find it on a beach or in another public place; there is simply no reason to investigate in most cases. Of course, it should go without saying that in Florida, if you are caught with a controlled substance for which you do not have a prescription, you will face criminal charges. Because of the state’s long smuggling history, any kind of drug offense is treated harshly in Florida, and convictions result in stiff penalties.

The primary concerns a court will have when trying a drug case is the specific substance involved and the amount at issue – as one might imagine, the more of a substance at issue, the harsher the potential penalty. For example, possessing 2 grams of heroin will be prosecuted as a third-degree felony; possessing 4 or more will be prosecuted as trafficking in heroin, which can be any degree of felony, but is usually charged as harshly as possible.

Call A West Palm Beach Drug Possession Attorney

While the cocaine on the beach in Nassau County was reported to the sheriff’s department, things are not always so cut and dried. If you have been charged with possession of a controlled substance – no matter where you acquired it – you need an experienced West Palm Beach drug possession attorney from Perlet & Shiner, P.A. to help protect your rights. Call our office today at (561) 721-0552 to speak to an attorney.

Source:

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