Fentanyl trafficking ring busted in Volusia and Lake Counties.

Written by Kristen Schmutz

Belden Communications News

Volusia County and Lake County authorities have successfully dismantled a large-scale heroin and fentanyl trafficking organization after a thorough joint investigation. The operation, codenamed "Operation Daly Dose," targeted the Drew Daly drug trafficking organization and revealed the sources responsible for distributing substantial quantities of fentanyl each month in both counties.

Over five months, law enforcement agencies worked collaboratively to track down and apprehend individuals involved in the illicit drug trade. With several arrests made throughout the investigation, a sweep conducted last Thursday resulted in the apprehension of approximately two dozen defendants across the DeLand and Orange City areas.

During the investigation, law enforcement seized a substantial amount of illicit substances and related equipment, including over 2,300 grams of fentanyl, approximately 53 grams of black tar heroin, 138 grams of cocaine, 423 grams of methamphetamine, 43 grams of MDMA, 180 opioid pills, 11 firearms (one stolen), and more than $100,000 in cash and assets.

Among the individuals arrested was the leader of the organization, Drew Daly, along with his suppliers, Vernon Woodward II, and Preston Ingram. Additionally, authorities are investigating a potential link between the Daly organization and an overdose death in Deltona.

“There should be no sympathy for what these scumbags are doing to our community,” Sheriff Chitwood said in a Tuesday morning news conference joined by local, state, and federal law enforcement partners. “We are all talking all the time because we all have the same mission, to keep our communities as safe as possible.”

“The agencies you see represented up here today are going to continue to attack this problem from an enforcement level,” said Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell. “But we need our parents and grandparents out there to talk to their kids and their grandkids about the dangers of this fentanyl.”

The investigation also uncovered a connection between the drug ring and a series of organized thefts at Walmart stores, where one of the defendants posed as an employee to steal 75-inch TVs, trading them for narcotics.

Another notable arrest was Drew Daly's girlfriend, Lauren Toce. She had previously been responsible for a child who experienced a drug overdose in 2020 but survived after receiving Narcan at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach. While serving time for violating probation related to child neglect charges, Toce conspired with Daly and his brother Patrick Daly to smuggle cocaine, Xanax, and other contraband into the Volusia County Branch Jail. Fortunately, their efforts were intercepted.

“The fentanyl crisis continues to plague America, and Florida is certainly not immune to the massive amounts of Fentanyl flooding into our country,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said following the operation. “This large-scale investigation has led to the dismantling of a fentanyl trafficking network, and more than 30 individuals are now behind bars for buying and selling this poison. My statewide prosecutors will aggressively prosecute these cases, and we will continue to fight back with our law enforcement partners against this crisis.”

According to a release, the investigation was a joint effort led by the Volusia Bureau of Investigation (VBI) and the West Volusia Narcotics Task Force (WVNTF) along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.

VBI is a Central Florida High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) initiative that investigates drug trafficking organizations and features members from VSO and the DeLand, Edgewater, and Ormond Beach police departments, as well as HSI and the FBI.