A boat captain in the Florida Keys was arrested this week and accused of trying to sell cocaine he said he found at sea.
Bradford Picariello, 65, is accused of selling a kilogram to an undercover Monroe County Sheriff’s Office detective for $10,000 on Monday.
The arrest came after an investigation by the sheriff’s office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Prior to the sale, Mr. Picariello told the undercover agent to bring a cooler so it looked as if fish were being transported instead of drugs, according to the arrest report cited by USA Today.
Mr. Picariello, a charter boat captain from Marathon, 115 miles southeast of Miami, purportedly found the drugs at sea, the sheriff’s office said Tuesday.
The cops seized a .40-caliber handgun, 23 kilograms of cocaine, $8,000 in cash and a 38-foot-long boat when they arrested Mr. Picariello on Monday.
The sheriff’s office did not specify where the cocaine might have originated.
The authorities charged Mr. Picariello with trafficking, sale and possession of cocaine. The sheriff’s office said they expect Mr. Picariello to be tried in federal court.
