On Friday (Nov. 6), a Florida district attorney said it is “never too late to do the right thing” as his office proposes vacating the records of those convicted of buying narcotics in an undercover sting. The “outrageous” operation was run by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office from 1988 to 1990, where they made crack cocaine and sold it to buyers, which resulted in arrests and charges.

Broward County State Attorney Harold F. Pryor says that as many as 2,600 convictions may be cleared. The Florida Supreme Court previously ruled that those busted in the set-up could not be charged in 1993. However, many of those who faced legal ramifications for the illegal acquisitions have records that still list the decades-old offense, some of which took place near schools, a punishable crime of up to three years in prison at the time.

Defense lawyer Ed Hoeg told the Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale that law enforcement was “arresting people not for selling, but for purchasing ... They had detention deputies posing as dealers.” Hoeg represented a client named Leon Williams, who was among those arrested and charged. His appeal to the state’s high court led to police agencies being prohibited from making illegal drugs to elicit the capture of offenders.

“We hold that the illegal manufacture of crack cocaine by law enforcement officials for use in a reverse-sting operation within 1,000 feet of a school constitutes governmental misconduct which violates the due process clause of the Florida Constitution. Thus, we find that the defendant's conviction for purchasing the crack cocaine must be reversed,” said the state in its ruling. “We find that the law enforcement’s conduct here was so outrageous as to violate Florida’s due process clause.”

Pryor said the discovery of cases tied to the since-shuttered operation were uncovered during his office’s review of old cases. He said it would take a “considerable amount of time” to contact those impacted and to make amends.

“These records may be a dim memory or an unfortunate part of history to many, but they have had a long-standing and severe impact on the lives of the people who were arrested — as well as their families and the wider community,” the public servant said. The University of Florida alum became Florida's first Black man to serve as state attorney when he was elected in 2020.