News and Investigations

A suspect who has been in jail since March 2020 as a result of an undercover heroin trafficking investigation, 29-year-old Gary Scott, Jr., was recently indicted by the grand jury for first degree murder in the death of a 41-year-old man who overdosed on heroin that Scott sold to him in January 2020.

On January 9, 2020, PCSO deputies and Polk Fire Rescue personnel responded to the Rodeway Inn, located at 1911 Cypress Gardens Blvd in Winter Haven, where the victim was unresponsive. Through investigative means, detectives learned the victim purchased three baggies of what he believed to be heroin, and then snorted some of the drugs. When the victim was found unresponsive during the early morning hours of January 10th, a witness called 911, but the victim could not be revived, and was declared deceased.

During the autopsy and toxicological analysis of the victim's blood, an elevated concentration of fentanyl was present in the victim's blood and urine. No other drugs were present. The Medical Examiner's opinion is that the victim died as a result of fentanyl intoxication.

Scott was positively identified as the suspect who sold the drugs to the victim. A sample of the drugs he sold to the victim were found at the scene. Detectives sent the sample to the FDLE lab for testing, and the lab results confirmed that the drugs sold by Scott to the victim were fentanyl, not heroin.

In March 2020, Scott was interviewed by detectives in relation the sale of drugs to the victim in January, and as part of an ongoing drug trafficking investigation. Initially, Scott denied selling heroin to the victim, but eventually confessed. He admitted to meeting the victim at the Rodeway Inn in Winter Haven and selling him a "baggie." He was also seen on video surveillance at the motel that day.

Scott has been in the Polk County Jail since March 25, 2020, on the following charges:

• Trafficking in heroin (F1)
• Possession of heroin with intent to sell (WITS) (F2)
• Possession of a structure to traffic drugs (F2)
• Possession of marijuana WITS (F3)
• Possession of marijuana over 20 grams (F3)
• Tampering with evidence (F3)
• Possession of paraphernalia (M1)

After the grand jury indictment, PCSO detectives additionally charged Scott with first degree murder (FL) and sale of fentanyl (F2).

Scott's criminal history includes 2 felonies and 8 misdemeanors, for battery domestic violence, marijuana possession, criminal mischief, resisting arrest, carrying a concealed firearm, possession of paraphernalia, probation violation, and DWLSR.

"We have investigated 59 deaths related to drug overdoses so far in 2020 in our jurisdiction. This investigation is one part of holding the dealers accountable for selling these deadly drugs. For every parent who loses a child to illegal narcotics, there's someone out there responsible for selling the drug that caused it. These are not 'non-violent, low-level' crimes. These drugs ruin lives, destroy families, and kill people."  - Grady Judd, Sheriff