Drug Trafficking Charges Filed In Undercover Operation: Sheriff

POLK COUNTY, FL — A 47-year-old Lake Wales woman faces trafficking methamphetamine charges after deputies said she sold drugs during an undercover operation on Dec. 9.

The suspect, Maria Rocio Gordillo, allegedly sold methamphetamine to detectives with the Polk County Sheriff's Office Dec. 3 and Dec. 9. She is accused of selling a combined 8.8 pounds of drugs during those two days from her home, 255 Waverly Loop, Lake Wales.

Gordillo was arrested on Dec. 9 and faces the following charges, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office:

• Trafficking in methamphetamine
• Possession of a structure/conveyance used to traffic a controlled substance
• Possession of drug paraphernalia

Authorities said they also found $4,100 worth of U.S. currency at her home.

This investigation is a follow-up from Operation Meth Death Peddlers where 44 suspects were arrested and 50 pounds of methamphetamine was seized in 2018 and 2019, leading to numerous arrests in April 2019, according to deputies. Polk County Sheriff's Office High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and members of Homeland Security Investigations Tampa Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are teamed up in this operation.

Gordillo was the live-in spouse of Otoniel Valdez-Mendoza, one of those arrested for conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine during Operation Meth Death Peddlers, officers said.

Mendoza is being held at the Polk County Jail without bond, and Gorillo is at the jail being held on a $71,000 bond.

"These drug dealers have blood on their hands," Sheriff Grady Judd said. "They make money off the misery of others. They use violence as a means to enforce their trafficking business."