Editor’s note: The Florida Hometown Heroes Housing Program aims to make homeownership more affordable for frontline community workers such as law enforcement officers, firefighters, educators, healthcare professionals, childcare employees, and active military or veterans. The program “provides down payment and closing cost assistance to first-time, income-qualified home buyers so they can purchase a primary residence in the community in which they work and serve.”
Dunnellon Police Chief Mike McQuaig nominated Corporal Eldon Raines for the program, and below is McQuaig’s commendation for Raines for the program.
Hometown Heroes honorees from Marion County and surrounding counties will be recognized Sept. 17 at the Marion County 9/11 Memorial event series at the Marion County Veterans Park, located at 2601 E. Ft. King St. in Ocala. The 5th Annual Hometown Heroes Award Gala was held last week in Ocala.
Corporal Eldon Raines is commended for his constantly high performance and outstanding work. Cpl. Raines has proven himself invaluable in the fight against drugs in the City of Dunnellon.
To date this year, he has made 17 arrests, many of those including well-known drug dealers. Of those 17 arrests have come 40 total charges: 22 felony charges and 18 misdemeanor charges. The felonies ranged from possession of cocaine and pills with intent to distribute to possession of firearms by a convicted felon and tampering with a witness.
One of the felony charges was for Trafficking in Fentanyl. Cpl. Raines conducted a traffic stop and developed probable cause to search the vehicle. Upon searching the vehicle, he located drugs and drug paraphernalia.
He also located several pills that he described as looking off, not your normal pills. He dove deeper and field-tested a piece, discovering it was Fentanyl pressed into a pill shape to disguise the narcotic.
Cpl. Raines made it a personal mission to dismantle one of the larger drug houses in the City of Dunnellon known as the “Meredith House.” The “Meredith House” was the site of multiple overdoses, prostitution, and drug sales. Cpl. Raines coordinated with the owner to take control of the house, and in doing so, arrested three of the main characters causing problems at the house.
On Aug. 5, while reviewing and following up on a burglary case worked by a fellow officer, Cpl. Raines was able to develop probable cause to prepare a search warrant for a house where the stolen items in the burglary were possibly located. On Aug. 11, with the assistance of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and the Unified Drug Enforcement Strike Team, the search warrant was served.
A search of the home yielded trafficking amounts of many different types of narcotics and $12,200 in cash. He later located the owner of the house and arrested him on warrants received from the search warrant. The suspect was found to be in possession of .5 grams of cocaine and $4,600 dollars that is believed to be from the sale of narcotics.
Shortly after serving the warrant on the same day, Cpl. Raines responded to an address inside City limits to a report of a burglary in progress. Because of his quick response, he located the suspect hiding under a sheet inside the closet of the home. The suspect was arrested on charges of burglary, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of cocaine, and multiple Marion County Sheriff’s Office Warrants.
Cpl. Raines is a vital piece of the City of Dunnellon Police Department and the everyday fight against drugs. A fight in which Cpl. Raines continues to succeed. There is no doubt that Cpl. Raines has saved numerous lives through his proactive approach and ridding the streets of Fentanyl.
Your attempts to protect the citizens of Dunnellon are truly commendable and deserve an abundance of gratitude.