Detectives: Florida Charter Boat Captain Sold Cocaine Found at Sea
What to Know
- Bradford Picariello, 65, was arrested after selling a kilogram of cocaine for $10,000 to an undercover agent.
- Authorities seized approximately 23 kilos of cocaine, $8,000 in cash, and Picariello's boat during the operation.
- The investigation involved Monroe County Sheriff's Office, Customs, and Border Patrol, with federal prosecution planned.
MONROE COUNTY, Florida -- A Florida Keys charter fishing boat captain is facing charges he was selling multiple kilograms of cocaine that he found at sea.
Bradford Todd Picariello, 65, was arrested Monday after he sold a kilogram of cocaine for $10,000 to an undercover federal agent who was working with Monroe County Sheriff’s Office detectives on an investigation into the boat captain, the agency said.
After his arrest, detectives, along with federal Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol agents, seized about 23 kilos of cocaine, $8,000 in cash and Picariello’s 38-foot boat, said sheriff’s office spokesman Adam Linhardt.
The sheriff’s office led the investigation, but the case will be prosecuted federally, Linhardt said.
The drug deal happened around 3 p.m. at the marina where Picarrielo runs his business, Outlaw Fishing Charters, located at Burdines Waterfront, 1200 Ocean Breeze Ave. in the Middle Keys city of Marathon, according to a sheriff’s office arrest report.
Picariello told the agent over the phone to bring a cooler to his boat to make it look like he was picking up fish, the report states. He also told the agent that he had another 100 pounds of cocaine if he was interested in buying more, according to the report.
The agent arrived at the boat, and Picariello gave him the kilo of cocaine, which the agent placed in his cooler. After Picariello asked the agent to bring the money back to the boat, deputies and agents swept in and arrested him, according to the report.
Picariello told the cops that the rest of the load was at his storage unit on 42nd Street. He gave them permission to search it, and they found the wrapped kilos, all marked with a “332” stamp, according to the report.
As of Tuesday, Picariello was being held without bond in county jail on Stock Island on charges of selling, trafficking and possessing cocaine.
“I want to thank all the Sheriff’s Office members and our law enforcement partners who investigated this case and continue to work to keep dangerous drugs out of our community,” Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a statement.
Cocaine found at sea not uncommon in Keys
Charter boat crews selling cocaine found at sea is not uncommon in the Keys, and was at the root of a 2015 murder that became one of the most high-profile violent crimes in the island chain in recent history.
In that case, a fishing mate, Jeremy Macauley, and his friends were selling off multiple kilos he found in the ocean while fishing with customers.
One of his co-conspirators in the deal, Carlos Ortiz, threatened to tell the cops about what was going on unless Macauley paid him more money.
On Oct. 15, 2015, Macauley and another man drove to the Tavernier home where Ortiz was living with his girlfriend and her three young children. He fatally shot Ortiz, 30, and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Tara Rosado. A neighbor found the bodies the next day after he worried about seeing the children in the front yard.
A judge sentenced Macauly, 42, to two life prison sentences for first-degree murder in June 2024.
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