An 82-year-old man was detained Tuesday after Miami police reported seeing him distribute crack cocaine to two other men in Little Havana.
According to police, investigators were conducting surveillance in Centrum Health’s parking lot at 434 Southwest 12th Avenue when they spotted the transaction at approximately 3:55 p.m.
According to the arrest report, 65-year-old Frank Rodriguez-Diaz biked up to a group of people, had a brief conversation, and then gave another guy in the group, 58-year-old Raymond Vega, an unknown amount of money.
Vega then allegedly delivered the money to 82-year-old Tomas Casanova, who stood up from his location behind a tree and “reached into his right cargo shorts pocket and pulled out a white napkin” containing crack cocaine rocks. According to authorities, he distributed one rock to each man.
All of the men were apprehended when an officer “gave the takedown signal.”
When an officer searched Casanova, he discovered a white paper napkin with 11 white rocks classified as crack cocaine in his pocket, along with $50, according to officials. Another officer reported discovering two rocks near where Rodriguez-Diaz and Vega were sitting.
According to Miami authorities spokesman Kenia Fallat, Casanova is “too strange to police” and has already been arrested for cocaine trafficking.
“We’ve received numerous calls complaining about drug sales in the area,” Fallat stated. “The steeper the charges are, actually he was selling within several feet from an actual school; this could have turned worse had a child picked up those crack rocks.”
Casanova was charged with selling crack cocaine within 1,000 feet of a church or convenience shop, possessing crack cocaine, and other drug-related offenses.
Records reveal that Casanova was previously arrested in Miami-Dade County in 2014 on counts of selling or possessing cocaine and oxycodone with the intent to sell.
Casanova’s bond was set at $15,000 on Friday, and his immigration status was placed on hold.
Rodriguez-Diaz was accused of possession of crack cocaine, among other offenses. NBC6 is seeking to get an arrest report for Vega.
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