Online Purchase of Synthetic Opioids From China Leads to Arrest of South Florida Man
When you were a child and you curiously started to open a brightly colored envelope from the mailbox, even though it was addressed to one of your parents, they probably sternly warned you that it is against the law to open other people’s mail. Your parents were correct; the Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search and seizure also applies to postal mail. If the police want to open a letter or package addressed to you, they must first obtain a search warrant; if the court approves the request, it will only give the police the right to open the specific pieces of mail mentioned in the warrant. If your legal troubles began when the court issued a search warrant for police to open an envelope addressed to you, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.
How Scary Are “Super Opioids”?
In the early 20th century, morphine was the opioid drug of choice; you could buy it over the counter, and the pharmacist would never ask if you were going to microdose to forget life’s troubles or carry an entire vial with you on your adventures in the Amazon rainforest so that you could take a lethal dose if you got separated from your party and mauled by a jaguar. Fentanyl, which is ubiquitous in today’s drug supply, is a synthetic opioid 100 times as strong as morphine, but it is not the most powerful synthetic opioid. Several other synthetic opioids, most of which contain the morpheme “nitazene” in their names, are even stronger. These drugs have never been approved for medical use; their original inventors abandoned plans to seek approval for them when it became obvious that they were too dangerous. These drugs are increasingly prevalent in the U.S. drug supply; most of the time, dealers buy them online from companies based in China.
Package From China Leads to a Series of Search Warrants
In 2022, law enforcement in the U.S. identified several companies in China that were sending synthetic opioids to U.S. addresses. They intercepted packages shipped from these companies, including one addressed to Will Catis, Sr. of Deerfield Beach. Upon obtaining a search warrant to open the package, they discovered that it contained a drug powder that tested positive for protonitazene. This led them to obtain a warrant to search other property belonging to Catis; a search of his devices showed communications with the Chinese company about drug purchases, and Catis’s storage unit contained several bags of drug powder that tested positive for synthetic opioids. Catis pleaded guilty to possession of synthetic opioids with intent to deliver. News sources did not specify the sentence he received, but the charge warrants a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases
A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges for possession of synthetic opioids. Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/south-florida-man-pleads-guilty-participating-conspiracy-distribute-protonitazene
