Left: Francisco Melo (Miami-Dade Sheriff). Right: Port of Miami where Mello allegedly tried to smuggle 50 MDMA pills onto cruise ship (PortMiami).
A police officer from Florida ended up in jail when he was caught carrying 50 pills of the popular party drug known as molly or ecstasy while trying to get on a cruise ship that was hosting a dance party.
Authorities had their eyes on 36-year-old Francisco Melo, who had been a member of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office for six years, after receiving a tip about his alleged pill-selling activities, as stated in a probable cause arrest affidavit from Law&Crime. On December 20, law enforcement had an informant purchase 12 MDMA pills, also referred to as molly or ecstasy, for $240.
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The informant revealed that Melo planned to board the Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas cruise ship on January 22 at PortMiami, concealing the ecstasy pills inside Skittles packages. The cruise ship was hosting a four-day dance music festival. Detectives secured an arrest warrant and apprehended Melo as he was getting out of his car in the port parking lot.
A police dog named Roxi sniffed Melo’s luggage and alerted her human handlers of possible drugs. Cops allegedly found six Skittles bags, five of which they say were stuffed with molly. There were 50 pills in all, per the affidavit.
It appeared to be from the same batch of MDMA pills that the informant bought in December, cops noted.
Melo was arrested on a charge of trafficking in MDMA and taken to the Miami-Dade jail. When he bonded out, he refused to answer any questions and ran away from the reporters waiting for him.
The sheriff’s office has relieved him of duty.
“Narcotics don’t just harm those who use them, they devastate families, and fuel crime,” Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said in a statement. “No one is above the law, and this office will not tolerate criminal behavior from anyone, especially those entrusted to enforce it. The actions of this individual are a betrayal of the public trust and of all the deputies who work tirelessly to protect our community.”
