SOUTH BEACH, Fla. – Police officers recently rescued a toddler who was in an apartment in South Beach with three stolen loaded guns, ammunition, and drugs, records show.
According to a police report in the case, the boy was with his father visiting a convicted felon with a record in Ohio and Florida who allegedly described himself as a “cryptocurrency trader.”
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There was an undercover operation involving a couple of purchases in March before the arrests on Saturday near the Miami Beach Police Department’s headquarters and Flamingo Park, records show.
Miami Beach police officers who searched the apartment where the toddler was reported seizing about $18,330 in cash, nearly 60 grams of Oxycodone, some 7.7 pounds of marijuana, and cocaine from the apartment.
The investigation followed complaints by Keystone Property Management about the felon, Keianti “Tae” Collins, a one-bedroom apartment tenant who was causing an “enormous amount of foot traffic” in an alley along two-story buildings between Euclid and Merdian avenues and 11 Street.
Detectives identified Collins, 35, as a drug dealer who had survived a street shooting nearby after a deal gone wrong about three years ago. They also related him to a woman who suffered two drug overdoses last year and accused Collins of domestic violence earlier this year.
According to police, earlier this month, an undercover police officer called Collins asking him for marijuana and he said, “Yeah, I got some” and sent a text message saying, “Park n da alley next 2da building.”
During two meetings in March near Flamingo Park, the undercover police officer paid Collins $100 for a 30-mg pill of Oxycodone and marijuana inside “pouches,” according to the police report.
Miami Beach detectives identified the second suspect staying with Collins as Stephen Rich, the toddler’s father who was visiting from Ohio. Correctional deputies booked the duo on Sunday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Rich, 29, and Collins appeared in county court on Monday facing charges of possession of a controlled substance or manufacturing in a place with a minor present and child neglect with no great bodily harm.
Collins was also facing 13 more charges, including eight related to what police officers reported finding in his apartment and five for the deals with the undercover cop near the public park.
For the transactions, Collins faced two counts of selling or delivering a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, two counts of selling or delivering marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, and unlawful use of a communications device.
For the findings, Collins faced charges of possession of a weapon and ammunition by a convicted felon, three counts of grand theft of a firearm, armed trafficking Oxycodone, possession of cocaine with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana while armed, and possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to use.
A judge set Rich’s bond at $10,000 and denied Collins’s bond. Records showed The Florida Department of Children and Families was also investigating the case.