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Press Release

Cape Coral Member Of Drug Distribution Ring Sentenced To Ten Years

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida

Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber today sentenced Tafawah Horrobin (39, Cape Coral) to 10 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute heroin and fentanyl. Horrobin had pleaded guilty on May 13, 2019. His uncle, co-defendant Michael Horrobin, was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months’ imprisonment on August 12, 2019. A third co-defendant, Travis Lee Watkins, is scheduled to be sentenced on September 3, 2019.

According to court documents, on five occasions between February and August 2018, law enforcement officers purchased heroin laced with fentanyl from Tafawah Horrobin in Cape Coral. During the investigation, officers learned that although Tafawah Horrobin resided in Cape Coral, he frequently visited a house in Lehigh Acres where Travis Lee Watkins and Michael Horrobin lived. Investigators determined that the Lehigh Acres residence served as a “safe house” for a drug distribution ring where large quantities of controlled substances were stashed for safekeeping.

On August 16, 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Cape Coral Police Department simultaneously executed search warrants at Tafawah Horrobin’s Cape Coral residence and the Lehigh Acres safe house. Inside the Cape Coral residence, investigators found and arrested Tafawah Horrobin who confessed to distributing more than $10,000 in heroin and fentanyl for the organization monthly. From that house, law enforcement also seized various items used to facilitate the distribution of drugs, an illegally possessed firearm, and cash. Inside the Lehigh Acres safe house, law enforcement seized approximately one kilogram of heroin, approximately 400 grams of cocaine, smaller amounts of crack cocaine and methamphetamine, and four firearms.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Cape Coral Police Department, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael V. Leeman.

Updated August 26, 2019

Topics
Drug Trafficking
Opioids