Sarasota Drug Trafficker Sentenced To Federal Prison: U.S. DOJ

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — A Sarasota man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for possessing with the intent to distribute controlled substances, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

The court also ordered Victor Lamar Orr, 30, to forfeit two Glock pistols and ammunition.
He pleaded guilty to the charges on Nov. 26.

Orr, a convicted felon with four prior convictions for fleeing and attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, fled from a deputy with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office during an attempted traffic stop on May 25, 2022, the DOJ said.

He sped through a red light to get away from the deputy, who didn’t pursue him.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit, which had been working with MCSO on narcotics surveillance, tracked Orr’s vehicle as he continued to drive away from the scene.

Orr ran through red lights, drove over medians and passed vehicles by driving on the shoulder and in opposite lanes of travel, the DOJ said. He also drove through a yard and completely around a house, and drove on the opposite side of the highway to avoid stop sticks placed by law enforcement.

He drove into Sarasota, back into Manatee County, then east to DeSoto County and south to Charlotte County, where the SCSO Aviation Unit, running low on fuel, stopped surveillance.

At one point, Orr pulled off the highway and drove into a field off State Road 31 in Punta Gorda, where he threw a backpack from his vehicle.

Deputies from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office recovered the backpack, which contained a Glock pistol, fentanyl, methamphetamine, a digital scale and various pills including oxycodone, the DOJ said.

On Aug. 5, 2022, while MCSO investigators and the SCSO Aviation Unit were investigating suspected narcotics trafficking and conducting surveillance, they saw Orr driving a pickup truck with three others in the vehicle. They tracked the vehicle to a clothing store, where all the four got out of the truck.

When they left the store and returned to the truck, MCSO investigators took them into custody. Inside the truck, investigators found two firearms and a bag containing cocaine and other controlled substances.

DNA analysis determined that Orr’s DNA was consistent with DNA on the gun found inside the backpack he threw from his vehicle in May 2022, and DNA on one of the firearms found in the truck Orr drove on Aug. 5, 2022.