Leader Of Lee County Drug Distribution Ring Sentenced To Fourteen Years In Federal Prison

Fort Myers, Florida – United States District Judge John L. Badalamenti has sentenced Alphonda Baker, Sr. (45, Cape Coral) to 14 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute heroin and fentanyl and possessing multiple firearms as a convicted felon. Baker had pleaded guilty on February 5, 2020. Three of Baker’s associates were previously sentenced to federal prison for the conspiracy: Travis Lee Watkins (13 years); Tafawah Horrobin (10 years); and Michael Horrobin (4 years, 9 months).

According to court documents, Baker headed a drug organization that distributed significant amounts of heroin and fentanyl in Lee County, Florida. The investigation leading to Baker began in 2018, when law enforcement successfully purchased heroin laced with fentanyl from Horrobin, in Cape Coral, on multiple occasions. Law enforcement learned that Horrobin resided in Cape Coral but frequently visited a house in Lehigh Acres, where Watkins and Horrobin lived.  Investigators eventually determined that the Lehigh Acres residence was rented by the leader of the organization, Baker, to serve as a “safe house” where large quantities of drugs intended for distribution could be stockpiled.

On August 16, 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Cape Coral Police Department executed search warrants at Horrobin’s Cape Coral residence, the Lehigh Acres safe house, and Baker’s Cape Coral residence. Inside Horrobin’s residence, law enforcement seized various items used to facilitate the distribution of drugs, an illegally possessed firearm, and cash. Inside the Lehigh Acres safe house, law enforcement seized approximately one kilogram of a fentanyl/heroin mixture, approximately 400 grams of cocaine, smaller amounts of crack cocaine and methamphetamine, and four firearms. Eight firearms were seized from inside Baker’s Cape Coral residence.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Cape Coral Police Department, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael V. Leeman.