Steak 'n Shake drug dealer gets 17 years

Will Greenlee | Treasure Coast Newspapers

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FORT PIERCE — A key target in a drug probe that involved alleged sales of heroin from a Steak ‘n Shake off Okeechobee Road was sentenced to more than a decade behind bars, an assistant state attorney said Thursday.

St. Lucie County sheriff’s and federal officials in January announced the arrest of Cybil Green, now 43, and more than 40 others as part of an investigation that began in June 2017. About 15 were dealers, officials said.

Green, arrested after officials said she dealt heroin from the eatery between Interstate 95 and Florida's Turnpike, was sentenced Wednesday to 17 years in prison and 10 years probation, Assistant State Attorney David Dodd said.

More: St. Lucie County deputies: Heroin dealer used teenage children to package, distribute drugs

"I think that’s the reason you see a sentence of so many years, because this stuff’s killing people in St. Lucie County," Dodd said.

More: 17 drug arrests include man jailed on more than 50 charges in St. Lucie County

Dodd said Green “sort of was the entire supply chain” in her organization.

“What law enforcement found was not only was she essentially selling the heroin, fentanyl, and carfentanil but she was actually traveling down to West Palm where she was purchasing it, bringing it back into St. Lucie County, packaging it in individual capsules and then selling it,” Dodd said.

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Dodd said Green pleaded no contest to five counts of unlawful use of a two-way communication device, two counts sale of carfentanil, two counts possession of carfentanil, and single counts each of possession of cocaine, sale of cocaine, sale of fentanyl, conspiracy to traffic in cocaine 28 grams or more, use or possession of drug paraphernalia and sale of cannabis.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid used for pain relief. It’s about 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin, according to the DEA.

Carfentanil is about 100 times more potent than fentanyl, which can be deadly in the 2 milligram range, according to the DEA.

More: Investigation: Heroin deaths increase on Treasure Coast

“She didn’t enter into a plea agreement,” Dodd said. “She pled no contest to all the charges without any agreement from the state and sought leniency from the court.”

Dodd said some of the “smaller players” in the group already have gone through the system, but said Green is the first of the “major players.”

“I think right now all of the leaders from this particular investigation are in custody in one form or another which is what our goal was,” Dodd said.