August 27, 2009
Media Contact: Jenn Meale
Phone: (850) 245-0150
Orange County Man Sentenced To 25 Years For Drug Trafficking
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced an Orange County man was sentenced to 25 years in prison and $350,000 in fines for his involvement in a Central Florida narcotics trafficking enterprise. Bruce Haynes, of Winter Garden, was convicted in August on conspiracy to traffic and trafficking charges. Haynes, 45, was among 36 defendants indicted by the 18th Statewide Grand Jury on numerous charges related to drug trafficking. The indictment was handed down in April 2008 and was the result of an 11-month investigation by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Court-ordered wiretaps were used to expose a multi-jurisdictional cocaine trafficking enterprise that was receiving cocaine from Mexico and distributing the drugs throughout Apopka, Winter Garden, Winter Park, Orlando, Eustice, Zellwood and Mount Dora communities. Authorities determined that Haynes, 45, frequently bought quarter and half kilogram quantities of cocaine for conversion into crack and additional distribution. As part of the investigation, the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration seized thousands of dollars in cash and four kilograms of cocaine, worth more than $400,000 in terms of street value.
Haynes was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution in the 9th Judicial Circuit. The sentence was handed down by Orange County Circuit Judge Bob LeBlanc.
The joint investigation was conducted by the Orange County Sheriff's Office Gang Enforcement Unit, the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Apopka Police Department, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.