Three Pasco And Lake County Residents Arrested With Twenty Pounds Of Methamphetamine
TAMPA, Fla. - A.D. Wright, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement (DEA), Miami Field Division, and A. Lee Bentley, III, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, announces the arrest and charge by a federal complaint of Shawn Paul (41, Dade City); Vladimir (26) and Jose Edgar Gonzalez-(45), both of Eustis, Florida, with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. If convicted, each faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison.
According to the complaint, Hendricks, who was known by law enforcement to be a large-scale methamphetamine trafficker, was arrested in Dade City on Thursday night for fleeing and alluding law enforcement after an attempted traffic stop. Agents subsequently seized marijuana, a gun, and over $50,000 in cash from a Dade City residence where Hendricks lived with his girlfriend. Hendricks admitted to having received 10 to 15 pounds of methamphetamine a week over the past year from a source in Atlanta, Georgia and stated that he was to receive such a shipment the following night. With Hendricks’s cooperation, last night agents arrested Castaneda and Gonzalez-Castaneda at their residences in Eustis, Florida, after they delivered nearly nine pounds of methamphetamine to Hendricks. In one of the transport vehicles, agents found an additional 11 pounds of methamphetamine. Gonzales-Castaneda admitted that he and Castaneda had picked up the methamphetamine in Atlanta earlier that morning.
A complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the DEA Tampa District Office and the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. It will be prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
