A Florida man facing charges for possession of cocaine and trafficking in heroin appears to have drawn his inspiration from America’s 45th President.
A six-month investigation concluded with Hernando County, Florida officials seizing approximately 5,550 packages of heroin, some of which were in packaging featuring President Donald Trump’s face. Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis confirmed to Tampa NBC affiliate WFLA that Kelvin Scot Johnson was arrested as the prime suspect. Johnson is currently behind bars, with his bail set at $75,000, but the bizarre branding of the heroin in question has brought up ties to President Trump for other reasons.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was present at the obligatory press conference to announce what may be a historically large drug bust for Hernando County.
“All I want to say to this drug dealer is, ‘Big mistake by putting the President’s picture on this,’” Bondi said. “Big mistake, because he is going to be our most fierce advocate in taking this junk off of our streets. Can you believe this? Big mistake.”
In 2016, Trump was penalized for not disclosing what was deemed an improper $25,000 contribution to a campaign group connected to Bondi. The donation was made while Bondi was deciding whether to investigate fraud allegations against Trump University. She ultimately decided not to pursue the case.
Part of Trump’s rationale for building a multi-billion dollar wall separating the U.S. and Mexico has been that it would help curb the flow of drugs—particularly opioids—into America.
Some of the confiscated heroin packets also included images of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar and convicted drug kingpin (and Trump antagonist) Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Authorities are still unclear if the inclusion of Trump’s image was meant as a joke or to send a political message.
