Pinellas ‘drug houses’ linked to 165 overdoses. Deputies arrest 32, more to come.
LEALMAN — The drugs sold out of three nearby homes killed 30 people and caused 135 more overdoses in the span of two months in late 2020 and early 2021, deputies say.
Those residences — all within a half mile of each other in unincorporated Pinellas — were pinpointed in a months-long drug investigation, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives say 35 people face 69 charges in connection with the three locations. They arrested 17 of those on Wednesday when they raided the three homes with search warrants, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said they arrested an additional 15 people during those raids.
A total of 31 were arrested Wednesday on charges such as: operating a drug house; trafficking in fentanyl and armed trafficking in fentanyl; selling, delivering or possessing drugs including heroin, fentanyl, crack cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana; petit theft; tampering with evidence; being a felon in possession of a firearm; and selling or delivering a firearm with an altered serial number.
The Sheriff’s Office said it is pursuing arrest warrants for the remaining 18 subjects left from the original 35 people identified in the investigation.
Three of those arrested live in one of the three homes deputies call “drug houses:” 2678 Grove Park Ave. N, Unit 1; 2524 50th Ave. N; and 4819 Haines Road N. All are located near 54th Avenue N and Haines Road N, north of St. Petersburg.
Detectives began investigating drug sales in the area in October 2020 and honed in on those houses during the investigation, deputies said. In December 2020 and January of this year alone, they said, the drugs that came out of those houses were responsible for 165 total overdoses.
One of the addresses, 2678 Grove Park Ave. N, was not home to anyone arrested Wednesday. It does not appear in the Pinellas County Property Appraiser’s online records.
None of those arrested were registered as owners of the homes, according to property records. The owner of the 50th Avenue N house, where two of those arrested live, said Thursday that he hadn’t heard about the drug investigation and declined to comment. The owner of the Haines Road N house could not be reached for comment.
One person arrested Wednesday was already in custody for failing to appear in court in another case, a sheriff’s spokesman said. The 31 others were taken to the Pinellas County jail.
