Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit, working with the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, ATF and neighboring sheriff’s deputies, announced the successful conclusion of “Operation Loose Lips,” a multi‑agency effort that dismantled a local cocaine trafficking organization run by brothers Claude (38) and John Harris (36).
Sentences and asset forfeiture
Claude Harris, known locally as “Lip,” pleaded no‑contest to cocaine trafficking and money‑laundering charges and was sentenced by Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols to 14.5 years in state prison on Oct. 28. The court ordered the forfeiture of all seized assets, including cash, vehicles and luxury items linked to the operation. John Harris received a 3.5‑year sentence for sale or possession of cocaine, with credit for time already served.
Law‑enforcement operation
The investigation began with an undercover traffic stop on June 5, 2026, when St. Johns County deputies and federal agents apprehended Claude Harris near the corner of Matanzas Woods and Belle Terre parkways. The following morning, SWAT teams raided 27 Egan Drive in Palm Coast, uncovering more than 200 grams of powder cocaine, $13,000 in cash, three handguns, five vehicles and a cache of designer apparel, shoes and handbags.
Four days later, simultaneous raids on three additional Palm Coast residences located on Pine Brook, Angela and Farragut drives yielded cocaine scales, packaging supplies and hospital‑grade narcotics, including morphine vials and liquid fentanyl citrate. Investigators also identified a third alleged conspirator, 31‑year‑old Aleah Fagan, who monitored a dedicated stash house. Fagan, a nurse at Halifax Health in Daytona Beach, was taken into custody on drug‑related and paraphernalia charges while a separate inquiry examines possible diversion of hospital painkillers.
Further arrests
On Sept. 2, plain‑clothes detectives observed John Harris conducting a narcotics transaction near an Emerson Drive residence and promptly arrested him for selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school or park, as well as for probation violations.
Both brothers have prior criminal histories: Claude Harris previously faced arrests for domestic battery and criminal mischief, while John Harris’s record includes armed robbery, armed burglary and battery charges.
Seizure totals
By the operation’s conclusion, authorities had seized nearly 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, $100,969 in cash, five firearms, eight vehicles and dozens of high‑end jewelry pieces. Sheriff Rick Staly emphasized the collaborative effort, stating, “Drug traffickers who bring cocaine into our community and profit from poisoning lives should know that we will pursue them, dismantle their organization, and hold them accountable.” He added that the partnership among county, state and federal agencies was essential to keeping dangerous poison off the streets.
Current status of defendants
John Harris is currently serving his sentence at the Florida Department of Corrections. Claude Harris remains at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility pending transfer to a state prison. Aleah Fagan was released on a $6,400 bond while her case proceeds through the courts.
Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.
