Drug dealers busted in Florida with enough fentanyl to kill nearly 500,000 people
PALM COAST, FLORIDA: Flagler County Police arrested two men with enough fentanyl to kill nearly half a million people on September 7. According to reports, the men were busted after a search warrant was executed at one of their homes, revealing 916 grams of fentanyl, along with other drugs and equipment. The two men have been identified as Brian Pirraglia, 39, and Michael Connelly, 40, and are now in jail on a bond of $500 and $3000 respectively.
The arrest comes amid a worrying surge in overdoses, led by fentanyl-cut heroin and cocaine. In the first week of September, comedian Fuquan Johnson and two others died from an overdose in Los Angeles, reportedly after consuming fentanyl-laced cocaine. The same incident saw comedian Kate Quigley hospitalized, but it appears she will survive. As the crisis has spiked to previously unseen levels, the White House has issued a recommendation that fentanyl be permanently added to the FDA's Schedule 1 list but is receiving pushback from the GOP.
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While the government debates how to deal with the crisis, on the streets, it gets worse with each passing day. Between July 2019 and 2020, more than 83,000 people lost their lives to drug-related overdoses according to the CDC. Cases have only been rising each year, but the widening gap has led experts to sound alarm bells. At the heart of the crisis is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is cheaper to make and get.
Florida men busted with fentanyl
Click Orlando reported that the police raided Pirraglia's home on September 7, at Blasdell Court in Palm Coast. The raid yielded a shocking 916 grams of fentanyl, split between a plastic bag with 510 grams and a plastic jar labeled "protein". At the time, Pirraglia claimed the powdery substance in the jar was just protein as labeled. He also claimed the plastic bag was a "gift from his neighbor" and he was unaware of its contents.
The fentanyl was recovered from the kitchen, but further searches revealed more drug-related items. In the master bedroom, multiple plastic bags had white residue. Police also recovered a backpack with multiple used hypodermic syringes, spoons with a powdery residue, a glass vial, and a metal grinder. In another room, police recovered 41.2 grams of Sulfamethoxazole and Trimethoprim, a prescription-only narcotic. Also found were used hypodermic syringes, multiple spoons with white powdery residue, a silicone smoking pipe with burnt cannabis residue, and multiple glass containers with residue.
Of all the contents found though, it is the fentanyl that has drawn the most attention. A dose of around two milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal and the amount police recovered was "enough fentanyl to kill 481,000 people, which is more than the population of Flagler and St. Johns counties combined," according to Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly. Both men were promptly arrested on drug paraphernalia charges, and taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility. According to Staly, "These two are frequent guests at the 'Green Roof Inn' and have yet to learn their lesson." Since 2007, Connelly has been arrested numerous times for fraud, grand theft auto, cocaine and hydromorphone possession, and probation violation. Pirraglia has been arrested several times since 2014 for shoplifting, fentanyl possession, and resisting an officer without violence.
Pirraglia is being held on possession of paraphernalia/equipment charge, with bail set at $500. Connelly is facing charges of possession of drug paraphernalia/equipment and a legend drug without a prescription, with bail set at $3000. Additional charges for Trafficking Fentanyl are pending Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab results. At the time of reporting, both men are yet to make bail.