Lee deputies bust drug ring; leader still sought

Lee County officials are working on a drug case that has already yielded more than $350,000 in cocaine and cash, but the ring's 18-year-old leader is still on the run.

Today, Lee County sheriff's officers announced the results of a nine-month investigation into a "sophisticated" ring that operated between Miami and Lee County to bring hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of drugs into the area.

During the investigation, detectives with the LCSO's narcotics division seized about seven kilograms of cocaine, which once cut and mixed could equal more than $250,000 on the street. They have also seized $108,000 in cash and seven semi-automatic weapons.

"It's great to get it all off the streets," said Major Jeffrey Taylor of the Sheriff Office's Major Crimes Task Force. "Those (drugs) cause a lot of problems."

In addition to the seizure of drugs, cash and weapons, police have also arrested five of the seven men they suspect have been running the ring in parts of Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres.

Two of the more important men in the ring are still not in custody. Luis "Taco" Herrera, 18, whose last known address is in East Fort Myers, is suspected of being the leader of the group, said Sheriff Mike Scott. Police have not yet been able to capture Herrera, but suspect he is either around Lehigh Acres or Chicago, where he has affiliation with the Latin Kings street gang.

At 18, Herrera is considered a young ring leader, but he has many years of experience through local gang affiliation, said Capt. Dominick Ferrante, commander of the LCSO narcotics division.

Charges are also pending on a 30-year-old accomplice. He was detained and questioned, but was then released. Police seized $88,000 from him. Both men could be armed, and Herrera in particular is considered dangerous, Ferrante said.

Already arrested on various drug and trafficking charges are Ramon Martinez, 24, of 2129 SE 5th St., in Cape Coral; Jeremy Walker, 19, of 4602 Douglas Lane, in Lehigh Acres; Ali Adib-razavi, 25, of 5221 SW 19th Square, in Cape Coral; Abdin A. Cancel, 22, of 1119 SE 13th Ave., in Cape Coral; Nelson C. Tubens, 19, of 502 Charles Ave., in Lehigh Acres.

The investigation began last summer when Tubens was caught with a kilo of cocaine while in Interstate 75, Ferrante said. Tubens is suspected of bringing in the drugs from Miami, where much of the ring's drug came from.

It's a very sophisticated group, Ferrante said, which is evident by the amount of cocaine they had, and the fact that some of it was in brick form, rather than powder form.