MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava was asked for her reaction to a public corruption investigation regarding drugs being smuggled into the county’s jails.
It’s been the subject of two Local 10 News reports this week, one on the investigation itself and how the smuggling is being done and another on a family who lost a loved one to a drug overdose while behind bars.
“I can just tell you we’re on it,” Levine Cava said.
While brief, Levine Cava’s response acknowledged the investigation involving drugs being smuggled into jails by a ring of people that includes corrections officers.
The mayor’s team was also there and they also told Local 10 News they could not comment further.
In early March, Local 10 News uncovered the public corruption investigation.
It came just a few days after a Miami-Dade undercover narcotics detective was shot. A bullet grazed the officer’s head.
An arrest report said the shooting happened while that detective was doing surveillance on Atiba Moore and following him in an unmarked police car.
Something went wrong and the undercover officer crashed into the back of Moore’s vehicle.
When the detective got out of his car, police said he was shot by Steve Gallon IV, son of Miami-Dade School Board member Steve Gallon III.
On Wednesday in court, a hearing for Gallon IV was reset for the next day, but his attorney commented on the public corruption investigation.
“My client is not associated with that investigation at all,” said attorney Roderick D. Vereen. “My client is not charged with any of those offenses, he has nothing to do with smuggling drugs into any jail.”
Also in court, for the first time since the shooting, the alleged shooter’s father, Gallon III, was heard from.
“As a father, I love my son. I’m going to stand with him,” he said. “I have every degree of faith and confidence in the judicial system. I believe that this is a place that we seek truth and we do justice.”
Local 10 News has been investigating how the drugs were smuggled into the jail.
Whether the deaths reported on by Local 10 News and the public corruption investigation are connected is unclear.
Sources tell Local 10 News that arrests are to come in the public corruption investigation, which is very much still active.