Heather Lynne Duarte-Wright of Crystal River found guilty of trafficking in fentanyl, faces possible life sentence
Office of the State Attorney, Fifth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida
Marion, Lake, Citrus, Sumter and Hernando counties, January 27, 2025
Marion, Lake, Citrus, Sumter and Hernando counties, January 27, 2025
Inverness (Citrus County), Florida - In the courtroom of the Honorable Circuit Court Judge Joel D. Fritton during the week of January 20 - 24, 2025, 41 year-old Heather Lynne Duarte-Wright, of Crystal River, Florida, was found guilty of trafficking in fentanyl and possession of drug paraphernalia. Duarte-Wright, a two-time convicted felon, faces the possibility of being sentenced to life behind bars as an habitual felony offender. According to the State Attorney's Office, at the time of her arrest, Duarte-Wright was in possession of enough fentanyl to kill nearly 10,000 people.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Patsey Jacobs and Elizabeth Colombrito.
"It only takes two milligrams of Fentanyl to kill a person," said Chief Assistant State Attorney Walter Forgie, "And here this defendant was, riding on the back of a scooter, with a pouch of enough fentanyl to take out a fraction of the county's entire population."
On August 10, 2023, a deputy with the Citrus County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) conducted a traffic stop on a motor scooter that did not have a license plate attached. When the driver and the passenger - identified as Heather Lynne Duarte-Wright - stepped off the motor scooter, as requested by the deputy, the deputy noticed a black zippered pouch, halfway sticking out from under the bottom of Duarte-Wright's shirt. When questioned by the deputy as to what the item was, Duarte-Wright replied that the pouch contained drug paraphernalia and fentanyl. Inside the zippered pouch, the deputy found a clear plastic storage bag that contained hypodermic needles and 20 grams of a white substance that field-tested positive for fentanyl. Additional testing of the white powdery substance by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed the presence of fentanyl.