Man Arrested in Connection With West Point Cadets’ Fentanyl Overdose in Florida

U.S. Military Academy cadets attend the 2020 graduation ceremony at West Point, New York, on June 13, 2020. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

Police arrested a man on March 11 in connection with five West Point cadets who overdosed on fentanyl-laced cocaine during spring break in Florida.

According to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, 21-year-old Axel Giovany Casseus, of Lauderhill, Florida, was charged with drug trafficking after selling cocaine to an undercover police officer.

Police found the phone number of the dealer who sold drugs to the spring breakers and arranged for undercover officers to buy $1,000 worth of drugs from the dealer, an exchange that took place in a car park in Fort Lauderdale, according to the arrest report obtained by Police1.

Detectives then followed Casseus to Hollywood, Florida, where he was arrested.

The report states that the phone Casseus used to communicate with the undercover detective was the same phone used to communicate with the overdose victims.

While the cocaine purchased by the undercover officers didn’t contain fentanyl, the cocaine that led to the overdoses of the cadets did.

Casseus was charged with one felony count of trafficking less than 200 grams of cocaine, as well as for a burglary dating back to January 2020. He was held at the Broward County Main Jail on a $50,000 bond for the cocaine charge.

The U.S. Military Academy cadets were hospitalized after overdosing on fentanyl-laced cocaine on March 10 in Wilton Manors, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. While police had said on March 11 that six cadets were hospitalized, Lt. Col. Beth Smith, West Point director of public affairs and communications, said March 12 that only five of the six individuals involved in the overdose incident are cadets.

West Point officials issued a statement on March 11 acknowledging that the events had taken place at a rental house and said they were investigating.

“The U.S. Military Academy is aware of the situation involving West Point cadets, which occurred Thursday night [March 10] in Wilton Manors,” a statement from the academy’s public affairs office reads. “The incident is currently under investigation and no other details are available at this time.”

“Four of the six students were using the laced drug and at least two of them immediately went into cardiac arrest,” Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan said in a written statement. “We are being told that four of those people had taken a substance that was believed to be cocaine laced with fentanyl when they went down into cardiac arrest.”

The incident came two days after Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody released a statement warning students that are attending spring break against “deadly fentanyl from Mexico” that has been “flooding the illicit drug market.”

Jannis Falkenstern contributed to this report.