Tampa, Florida - United States Attorney Robert E. O'Neill announces the return of an indictment charging Scott Eargood (21, Poinciana) and Santos Zamora-Escobar (27, Poinciana) with conspiring with each other and others to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, and fifty grams or more of actual methamphetamine (count one), and knowingly and intentionally, while aiding and abetting each other, possessing with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, and fifty grams or more of actual methamphetamine (count two). The penalty for each count is a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of ten years, up to life in federal prison.
According to court documents, on the evening of May 2, 2013, Polk County deputies initiated a traffic stop on Eargood's Jeep Cherokee on Highway 98 West, near southbound Highway 27, in Polk County. Eargood was the driver of the vehicle, and Zamora-Escobar was the passenger. Deputies searched the vehicle and found $3,494 and 229 grams of methamphetamine.
Information developed during the stop led to a search of a residence on Platte Lane in Poinciana. Inside the residence, officers found more than 110 pounds of methamphetamine. At a price of $20,000 per pound, the methamphetamine seized has an approximate value of $2.2 million.
According to court documents, Eargood rented the Poinciana house four months earlier, at Zamora-Escobar's direction. The house was rented for the purpose of facilitating methamphetamine trafficking in Polk County. It is further alleged that Zamora-Escobar, Eargood, and others stored large quantities of methamphetamine at the residence, for further distribution.
On May 3, 2013, as part of the ongoing investigation, agents and detectives executed a search warrant in Highlands County at a mobile home on East Oak Island Road in Avon Park. Law enforcement officers seized four ounces of methamphetamine, a long rifle, an AK-47-type rifle, and three handguns from the mobile home. Investigators also executed a search warrant at an apartment on 3rd Street Southeast in Winter Haven, Polk County. Numerous wire transfer documents were seized from that location.
On May 3, 2013, Eargood and Zamora-Escobar appeared in federal court in Tampa, before the Honorable Thomas B. McCoun, III, United States Magistrate Judge. Both men were ordered detained, pending further proceedings.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and the Polk County Sheriff's Office. It is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation's illegal drug supply. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher F. Murray.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
