NORTH FT. MYERS, Fla. – Five people were caught with narcotics across the city Thursday.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said after conducting an investigation, they used search warrants to arrest the five suspects.

Deputies found more than 12 grams of fentanyl, enough to kill more than 6,100 people, according to the DEA’s standards of a typical lethal dosage of the drug.

Detectives found a slew of other drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. 

In one case, detectives received information about 44-year-old Michael Larson, who is accused of selling drugs out of the Riverview Inn Motel on North Cleveland Avenue. 

During a traffic stop, deputies found an aerosol can with a false bottom, and inside was a small bag of fentanyl. 

After executing a search warrant in Larson’s motel room, deputies reported finding more than 10 grams of fentanyl, methamphetamine and methadone pills in the freezer and heroin hidden in a plaid bag. Detectives also said Suboxone strips and Narcan were found in the motel room. 

Down the street, deputies caught 35-year-old Lora Diseveria near the North Fort Myers Recreation Center with fentanyl and crystal meth. 

According to a deputy’s report, a criminal informant and a detective worked together to meet Diseveria at the Wonderland Hotel on North Tamiami Trail to buy heroin.

After testing the substance, the undercover detective determined it to actually be fentanyl. 

Doctor Timothy Dougherty with Lee Health said many people who purchase heroin don’t realize it’s mixed with fentanyl, which can cause people to overdose even easier. 

“All these overdoses that we’re getting is because fentanyl is a very powerful narcotic, very powerful opioid that leads to respiratory failure,” Dougherty said. “You just stop breathing.”

Fentanyl will put you in a sleep-like state, then stops your breathing. Narcan, the antidote for opioids, can reverse this. 

“The problem with an opioid overdose isn’t their heart,” Dougherty said. “The problem for the opioid overdose is the fact that they can’t breathe.”

But overdosing isn’t the only danger to opioid usage. 

Dougherty said HIV and bacterial infections can also cause death by using needles to administer the drug into your body. 

All five of the suspects will be in court on May 20th. 

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