Cops seize drugs, more than $1 million in cash in Fort Myers bust
Friday, September 14, 2007

A Lee County Sheriff’s Office conference room looked like a cross between a Mexican pharmacy and a Las Vegas casino counting room Friday afternoon as authorities proudly displayed the fruits of what they said is the largest single drug bust and cash seizure in county history.

Piles of cash, mostly $100 bills, sat in thick bricks on a large table, while still more bundles clicked and whirred their way through sorting machines manned by about a dozen Lee County Sheriff’s Office employees. The illegal pharmaceutical drugs seized from the La Mexicana restaurant at 1441 Ortiz Ave. in Fort Myers at around 3 a.m. Friday – from anabolic steroids to vaginal suppositories – towered in massive piles nearby.

Sheriff Mike Scott said the fruitful late-night drug raid was the result of a cooperative effort between the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the culmination of a five-month undercover investigation into the La Mexican restaurant.

“We were able to infiltrate the La Mexicana with our undercover operation and recover a litany of European and Mexican drugs, and well over $1 million in cash,â€