Sarasota police arrest 35 alleged drug dealers

For the last two years, Merissa Mort hasn’t felt very safe in her north Sarasota neighborhood.

The local attorney, who lives in the Broadway Promenade condo complex next to Pioneer Park, has called the Sarasota Police Department almost twice daily to report prostitution and drug dealing in the Central Cocoanut Historic District.

“I always said you could probably get crack quicker in that neighborhood than you could get a pizza,” Mort said.

But thanks to an SPD operation targeting open air drug markets in the city, which cleared out an alleged drug operation in an abandoned house at Cocoanut Avenue and 11th Street, Mort finds it easier to walk her two dogs through Pioneer Park.

“There are still obviously issues with the neighborhood, but since the police did the drug bust it’s a day and night improvement in the park,” Mort said following the announcement of Operation Fresh Start. “There are more kids playing in the park now than drug dealers hanging out.”

This morning, Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino announced the arrest of 35 suspects during the undercover operation, which began in April. Detectives are still searching for Glenford Bryan, 29, and 28-year-old Cordarryl Rogers.

Officers used crime data and input from the community during the fourth such operation targeting street-level drug dealers, said Capt. Corinne Stannish during a press conference. 

“We are not stopping here,” Stannish said. “We are going to eliminate drug dealing in the city of Sarasota.”

Suspects were charged with a variety of drug offenses, including the sale of crack cocaine and heroin within 1,000 feet of a park.

“We’ve got to brag,” DiPino said. “We made all these arrests without incident.”