OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Deputies with the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office have arrested two men accused of shooting a man at his Kissimmee home. It’s the same home where the victim sold a man 4 kilos of cocaine just six hours before the shooting, investigators said.
Channel 9's Jeff Deal learned the shooting could be connected to a major international drug cartel.
Deputies were called to the home Monday at 1600 Granada Blvd. in Kissimmee, where they found Carlos Garcia shot in the leg.
Investigators learned that Jorge Salgado and Manuel Balan went to Garcia's home, demanded cocaine and cash, and shot him, according to court documents.
Garcia told the investigators one of the men grabbed one of his sons, held the gun to his head and threatened to kill him.
Garcia's wife gave the men $18,000 in cash, deputies said.
Also during the investigation, deputies obtained surveillance video of the home, where they saw Garcia give Erick Bernal-Rodriguez, 46, of Kissimmee, a case of avocados with 4 kilos of cocaine in the produce.
Bernal-Rodriguez said Garcia fronted him cocaine and he was going to sell it later, deputies said.
Garcia admitted to investigators he picked up 5 kilos of cocaine on a stop in Houston, deputies said. He said he was afraid because the people in Texas were big time and the home invaders told him, "This is for the Gulf Cartel. You better get their stuff," investigators said.
Neighbors told Eyewitness news that Garcia is a truck driver.
During a separate search warrant at an apartment complex in Kissimmee, where Bernal-Rodriguez lives, detectives found four brick-shaped packages wrapped in black duct tape behind the dryer in the laundry room, deputies said.
Bernal-Rodriguez faces charges of trafficking cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. He must post $500,000 to get out of the Osceola County Jail, a judge ordered.
Cox Media Group
