Say Anything Blog

Orlando council candidate busted for drug trafficking

A candidate running for Orlando City Council on a law-and-order ticket was arrested Thursday night on charges of drug trafficking, jail records show.

Ezell Harris, who announced a campaign to unseat incumbent Commissioner Daisy Lynum earlier this year, was booked on charges related to the sale of the prescription narcotic hydrocodone.

Harris has a campaign website that promises to “promote public safety” and stresses the dangers of prescription narcotics, but he’s now being held at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $100,400 bail.

Jail records show he is being held on four counts: trafficking in hydrocodone, dispensing illegal drugs without a license, unlawful use of a two-way radio, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Details of the case were not immediately available from the Orlando Police Department, though investigators believe he was selling Lorcet and Vicodin – brand names of hydrocodone—that had been prescribed to him. According to his website, he served as a military policeman in the U.S. Army for three years in the late 1970s, and was classified as disabled in 1980.

Harris has been one of Lynum’s loudest critics for at least eight years. Since he launched his campaign at a Tea Party rally earlier this year, he frequently spoke at City Council meetings, denouncing his opponent as corrupt.