A 55-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years behind bars after leading police to an Orlando-area storage unit filled with over 100 kilograms of cocaine valued at $3,000,000.
Avery Lans, who is from the Virgin Islands, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr. to spend 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. His coconspirator, 35-year-old Wayne Ellsworth Stout, Jr. of Miami, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison.
According to evidence presented at trial, on June 1, 2022, Stout drove from Miami to Orlando and retrieved a grey and teal duffle bag from a storage locker in the Edgewater area.
At the time, Stout was being followed by Homeland Security Investigations agents who were conducting surveillance on him.
Stout left the storage locker and drove to a Winter Park restaurant, where he met up with Lans.
After a brief meeting, Lans took the duffle bag and circled the block, before leading HSI surveillance agents to the corner of Lee Road and Wymore Road in Winter Park. At that point, Lans abruptly turned and dropped the duffle bag out of his passenger side window.
Lans led authorities on a high-speed chase before he was detained and the duffle bag was retrieved.
The bag contained five kilograms of cocaine wrapped in black tape with special markings. The cocaine was valued at $135,000.
Authorities returned to the storage locker where the drugs were retrieved and in it, found 109 kilograms of cocaine valued at nearly $3,000,000. Some of the cocaine contained the same black and gold marking as the bricks being carried by Lans.
During trial, multiple conversations were submitted into evidence demonstrating Lans discussing cocaine smuggling with his conspirators. Lans was carrying the same phone at the time of his arrest.
Lans was indicted just two weeks after he was arrested on June 15, 2022, and a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine on Tuesday, October 4. Stout pled guilty on August 19.
“Our highly skilled special agents continue to rely on their experience and resources to thwart the efforts of career criminals who attempt to distribute their poison into our communities,” said Dave Pezzutti, Homeland Security Investigations Orlando Assistant Special Agent in Charge. “These sentences are a testament to HSI and our partner law enforcement agencies commitment to work around the clock to locate and remove these illicit drugs off the streets and out of our communities.”