Man Out On Bail Sold Drugs To Cops, Officials Say

SARASOTA, FL — A 45-year-old Bradenton man arrested on a long list of drug-related charges in April after police say he kept returning to his former home in Sarasota to sell drugs is back behind bars. Sarasota detectives say that while out of jail on bond from the April arrest, Calvin Butler sold them drugs on four separate occasions.

The latest case against Butler involved an undercover operation by the Sarasota Police Department. That agency initially arrested Butler in April on trafficking in hydromorphone, possession of cocaine with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of Gillespie Park, possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell and other charges. He was also found to be in possession of more than $10,000 at the time of his April arrest.

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Police say Butler bailed himself out of jail after that April arrest, and went right back to work. Between July 6 and July 26, he’s accused of conducting “four separate narcotics transactions with undercover Sarasota Police detectives,” a Wednesday, Aug. 16 email from the agency said.

Police obtained four warrants for Butler's arrest following those transactions. Detectives caught up with Butler on Aug. 11 while he was inside a vehicle on Florida Avenue. Police searched the vehicle and found prescription bottles with “numerous controlled substances, baggies of cocaine and more than $1,800,” the email said. Detectives also found two bags of hypodermic needles.

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Police also obtained a warrant to search Butler’s home in Bradenton, the agency said. There they found cocaine, syringes, a digital scale, methadone, oxycodone and other illegal substances.

Butler now faces trafficking in hydromorphone, trafficking in oxycodone, possession of cocaine with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a park, possession of methadone with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, possession of a controlled substance, delivery of drug paraphernalia and obstruction charges.

Butler remained in the Sarasota County Jail Wednesday.

Booking photo courtesy of the Sarasota Police Department