Green Cove Springs Police
Department christens new boat
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – The police department not only patrols 10.3 square miles of land, but the agency also keeps watch of more than three miles of the St. Johns River. Cmdr. Shawn Hines hit the waterway in a new boat that replaced a 28-year-old patrol boat that was retired to surplus last week.

GCS man indicted for trafficking drugs in ‘Operation Ice Man’
ORLANDO – U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the return of an indictment charging nine people, including a man from Green Cove Springs, with a drug trafficking conspiracy and other charges resulting from a joint investigation dubbed “Operation Ice Man.”
According to the indictment and court documents, since early 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the DeLand Police Department, and the Daytona Police Department have been involved in an investigation into a drug trafficking organization that was transporting methamphetamine and cocaine from Phoenix, Arizona and Los Angeles to Central Florida.
Jimmie Lee Bizzell, 53, of Green Cove Springs, was accused of conspiring to traffic methamphetamine and cocaine. According to the indictment, authorities said Bizzell was a commercial truck driver who transported the drugs from Arizona to Volusia and Flager counties. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years or as much as life in prison.
Others charged include:
• Luis Miguel Hernandez, 36, of Arizona, was charged with drug trafficking conspiracy.
• Saul Sandoval, 39, of Arizona was charged with drug trafficking conspiracy.
• Tyrone Joes, 55, of Palm Coast, was charged with drug trafficking conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute. 
• Zara Mascarella, 20, of Palm Coast, was charged with drug trafficking conspiracy.
• Alfred Shavers, 48, of Bunnell, was charged with drug trafficking conspiracy and possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
• Camarie Shavers, 23, of Bunnell, was charged with drug trafficking conspiracy.
• Alfred Shavers, 26, of Bunnell, was charged with drug trafficking conspiracy.
One other person, who wasn’t identified, remains at large.
During the investigation, federal agents and task force officers identified several members of the conspiracy and the methods used by the DTO to ship methamphetamine and cocaine from Mexico across the United States to central Florida using commercial trucks. Law enforcement tracked the drugs from Phoenix and Los Angeles, gathering vital intelligence on the DTO. Bizzell was one of the commercial truck drivers who transported the drugs.
On October 31, 2022, search warrants were executed at six locations in Palm Coast, Bunnell and Daytona Beach. As a result, 44.54 kilograms of methamphetamine and 2.72 kilograms of cocaine were seized. In addition, nine guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were seized from a location where Alfred Shavers resided.
Jones, Mascarella, Alfred Shavers, Alfred Shavers, Jr., and Camarie Shavers, were all identified as drug distributers in central Florida. Upon further investigation, law enforcement determined that Sandoval and Hernandez were the sources of the methamphetamine and cocaine from Phoenix and Los Angeles. Agents learned that Sandoval and Hernandez had brokered deals with co-conspirators in Mexico who were sending drugs across the border for Sandoval and Hernandez to sell.
Law enforcement also discovered that Sandoval possessed multiple illegal firearms at his residence, including fully automatic firearms, short-barrel firearms, and auto switches designed to be installed on Glock handgun slides to render the handguns fully automatic. Authorities believe that since 2021, Sandoval and Hernandez distributed more than 300 kilograms of drugs that were shipped to central Florida.
On April 25, 2023, Sandoval was arrested in Phoenix, and a search warrant was executed at his residence. Inside his home, agents located 1,114 grams of fentanyl pills, 18 firearms, four firearm suppressors and more than $5,000 in cash.
Sandoval was detained and is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transport to the Middle District of Florida for further proceedings. Hernandez was arrested in Los Angeles on the same day. He was in the middle of conducting a new drug trafficking deal for approximately 36 kilograms of methamphetamine at the time of his arrest. Hernandez was also detained and placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending his transport to the Middle District of Florida.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
The indictment also notifies Alfred Lamar Shavers that the United States intends to forfeit four pistols, two rifles and one shotgun which are alleged to be traceable to the offense.
This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, and the Volusia Bureau of Investigation, including the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the Daytona Beach Police Department, and the DeLand Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney John M. Gardella will prosecute it.

Men wanted for parking lot stick-ups in Clay County Jail
CLAY COUNTY – Two Jacksonville men suspected of robbing people at gunpoint in parking lots was arrested by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and transported to Clay to face armed robbery charges.
Jaron Lovell Isaac, 18, was charged with two counts of armed robbery, while Jalonie Murray, 19, faces a single count after somebody was robbed on April 25 in the Winn-Dixie Parking lot in Middleburg. Nearly 3½ hours later, somebody else was robbed in the Target parking lot on Fleming Island.
Both victims were able to write down a tag number. A search revealed the car belonged to Murray. The victim at the Target robbery identified Issac as the robber.
Isaac’s bond was set at $400,006, while Murray’s bond was set at $200,003.

Cellphone buy gone wrong lands man in Clay County Jail
ORANGE PARK – A man pretending to buy cellphones in Orange Park turned out to be an armed robbery, according to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
Vieqwan Taquence Cox Freeman, 19, of Jacksonville, was charged with armed robbery after he agreed to meet the victim to buy three iPhones for $1,100. After Freeman got the phones, he used an “AR type” rifle to keep from paying.
According to the arrest report, law enforcement agencies were on the lookout for him after the victim provided a description of Freeman’s car. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office tracked Freeman behind his mother’s house in Jacksonville. JSO got permission to search the house and found three iPhones in a bedroom. They also found a rifle in the front seat of his car.
Freeman’s bond was set at $175,003.

Stop for trespassing warrant leads to drug, weapons arrest
ORANGE PARK – A man who was arrested on May 5 on a trespassing warrant out of Duval County is now facing additional drug and weapons charges.
Jeffery William Bierman, 40, of Orange Park, was charged with carrying a knife concealed in his waistband and a machete taped to his bicycle. When deputies searched his backpack, they found seven individually-folded aluminum foil packets containing cocaine. Since the amount was more than 28 grams, Bierman was charged with trafficking the illegal narcotic.
His bond was set at $125,755.

Man arrested after woman found with bloody head wound
ORANGE PARK – A man was arrested on May 3 after the Clay County Sheriff’s Office found a woman with a gash on the back of her head at the Stay Suites on Wells Road.
Sean Robert McCoy, 30, of Mandarin, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest after CCSO was called to the hotel at 1:48 a.m. about a disturbance. They saw McCoy walking through the parking lot and trying to squeeze through an opening in the chain-linked fence.
One deputy caught McCoy and another found a woman bleeding in one room. They also noticed broken glass around the room and in the bathroom.
According to the arrest report, McCoy changed his version of the argument with the woman.
When McCoy, whose bond was set at $27,505, was arrested, deputies found shards of glass in his jacket pocket.

Argument in McDonald’s drive-thru leads to armed battery charges
ORANGE PARK – An argument in the McDonald’s drive-thru line on Blanding Boulevard ended with a man being arrested for pointing a gun at a customer.
On May 7, Cadarius Demonte Harrell, 22, of Orange Park, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after arguing with someone else in the drive-thru line. According to the arrest report, Harrell approached the customer’s car and pointed a handgun at the driver. Harrell eventually took his order and left and nobody was injured.
Law enforcement identified the owner of the car Freeman was in. They arranged to meet the owner and Freeman at the Orange Park Mall parking lot, and during a search, Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputies found a clip loaded with 9 mm ammunition.
Harrell is expected back in court on June 6. He was released from jail after posting a $25,003 bond.