Florida’s “tough on crime” poster boy is in handcuffs tonight. A powerful county sheriff, long celebrated for his cartel crackdowns on cable news, has been arrested in a joint FBI–DHS operation and charged with helping the Sinaloa and CJNG cartels move drugs and guns through his own jurisdiction.

Just after 5 a.m., federal agents descended on the sheriff’s compound, headquarters and two off‑site “training facilities.” By midday, officials announced they had seized 2.3 tons of narcotics — cocaine, meth and fentanyl — and a staggering 324 weapons, including assault rifles, ghost guns, belt‑fed machine guns and suppressed pistols. Many of the firearms, investigators say, should have been logged as evidence years ago, but instead were quietly “recycled” into cartel hands.

According to a sweeping indictment, the sheriff sold access to protected “police routes” and time windows when patrols would stand down, traffic units would be diverted and license‑plate readers mysteriously went dark. Convoys disguised as utility trucks and farm haulers allegedly cruised these corridors under the cover of bogus DUI blitzes staged miles away. Internal dispatch codes and WhatsApp chats recovered in the raid appear to map out which cartel moved on which night — and which deputies were ordered to “see nothing.”

The 324 seized weapons were found hidden in false walls, off‑books lockers and a private “tactical collection” room behind the sheriff’s office, along with stacks of cash and gold coins. At least 21 deputies and civilian staff are now under arrest or suspension, as state leaders call for an emergency review of every major case the sheriff touched.

For Floridians who once lined up for selfies with their law‑and‑order hero, the images from today tell a different story: the badge that vowed to fight the cartels was, investigators say, their most valuable asset.