The Barbeque Restaurant That Smoked More Than Just Ribs
The tourist brochures highlight the white sand beaches of Florida’s Gulf Coast and the riverbanks where alligators sun themselves, but they do not show the Sunshine State’s true beauty. If you’ve seen one mangrove swamp, you’ve seen them all, but where Florida truly shines is its small businesses, its independently owned eateries. The best of Florida is the storefront restaurants that only locals know, the places where you can get the best midnight snacks in the land when the munchies strike. To complete the experience, these places are usually decorated in festive colors. A roadside barbecue joint with a bright purple, hand painted sign is the perfect place to go after you smoke weed, but who knew that procuring illicit drugs because you went to the barbecue joint, instead of the other way around, was a thing? Three men are facing drug trafficking charges, based on allegations that they sold illegal drugs out of adjacent stores in a shopping center in Miami-Dade County. If you are facing charges for alleged drug activity associated with your place of business, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.
Three Men Face Charges for Selling Drugs Out of Shopping Center
Police had long suspected that a shopping center in the Brownsville neighborhood in northwestern Miami-Dade County was the site of drug deals, but by March 2025, they had enough evidence to send a confidential source to the shopping center to buy drugs. The source met up with Antwan Bailey in the parking lot and inquired about buying drugs. Bailey invited the source inside to a restaurant called Willie’s Late Nite, where he brought a bag of drug powder out of a back room and handed it to the source.
This controlled buy enabled police to continue their investigation. In September, they arrested Bailey along with Willie Weatherspoon and Eddie Gene Worthy, Jr. The criminal complaint said that the defendants sold cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, and cannabis from Willie’s Late Night and the parking lot in front of it, as well as the stores on either side of it, namely Brothers and Sisters and Wet ‘n’ Wild Tattoos. The defendants are facing the following charges:
- Distribution of a controlled substance
- Conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance
- Distribution of more than 50 grams of heroin
- Distribution of more than 400 grams of fentanyl
Additionally, Bailey is facing a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and Worthy is facing a charge of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime. If the defendants are convicted of all their charges, and if the judge imposes the maximum sentence, they could face life in prison.
Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases
A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing felony charges for your alleged participation in a conspiracy to sell illegal drugs from a legitimate place of business. Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
miaminewtimes.com/news/trio-charged-with-dealing-drugs-out-of-miami-retail-plaza-40491535/
