June 11, 2026

Prosecutors from the Broward State Attorney’s Office and a judge will be in court on Friday afternoon to clear the records of 44 people who were arrested in the late 1980s and early 1990s in reverse stings using crack cocaine that was manufactured by law enforcement.

Members of the media are welcome to attend the court hearings at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, June 12, with Broward Circuit Judge Andrew Siegel, in Courtroom 7750, North Wing, Broward County Courthouse, 201 SE 6^th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301.

Prosecutors have made contact with some of the 44 qualified individuals and have invited them to be in court (in person or via Zoom) on Friday afternoon for the first group of court hearings. Several of the individuals said they were very thankful and relieved. Some now live out of state, are unable to attend, or want to maintain their privacy. At least 10 of the individuals whose judgements and sentences will be overturned on Friday afternoon are deceased but their records will be cleared posthumously.

In 1993, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the police-manufactured crack cocaine could not be used in reverse-sting arrests.

During a routine review of public documents in our archives warehouse, Broward prosecutors discovered that hundreds of individuals arrested and charged in those stings may still have related criminal arrests and convictions on their records.

Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor launched a project to review all of those cases and vacate or remove the judgments and sentences from their records.

“This is long overdue, but it is never too late to do the right thing,” State Attorney Pryor said. “The methods that law enforcement and society used to combat drug dealing in our community have evolved since that time. These records may be a faded memory or an unfortunate part of history to many, but we know that they have had a long-lasting impact on the lives of the people who were arrested, their families, and our Broward County community.”

“As prosecutors, we have an ethical duty and obligation to correct this injustice,” State Attorney Pryor said.

The long process of finding and reviewing the old paper records and figuring out who is eligible began in December 2024 and is continuing. The individuals affected were arrested and convicted of purchasing crack or rock cocaine that was manufactured by some at the Broward Sheriff’s Office and used in reverse stings orchestrated by BSO and the old Oakland Park Public Safety Department at the time – between 1989 and 1992. Broward prosecutors also prosecuted those cases.

To date, prosecutors and staff from the State Attorney’s Office have completed preliminary reviews of approximately 2,800 old-fashioned paper files.  About half of those clearly did not involve manufactured rocks of crack cocaine and were not eligible.

Our archives staff have been electronically scanning the remaining approximately 1,400 cases into our electronic file system so that prosecutors (who have volunteered their time) can thoroughly review those cases and start processing the rest of the paperwork to dismiss the cases that are eligible.

In 1993, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in State of Florida v. Leon Williams, 623 So.2d 462 that law enforcement’s conduct in illegally manufacturing crack cocaine was so outrageous that it violated the due process clause of the Florida Constitution. Read the Florida Supreme Court’s 1993 decision here.

Sheriff’s deputies had found about 2.2 pounds of powder cocaine in a Greyhound bus station locker and, in February 1989, BSO employees began to “cook up” crack cocaine to use in reverse stings. The scandal was widely reported by local reporters at the time and led to several lawsuits.

In late 2024, State Attorney’s Office staff members realized there was a problem with those cases when they were reviewing public records that were kept for longer than required by the agency’s public records retention schedule. The records were under consideration to be destroyed, in compliance with the law. State Attorney Pryor immediately halted that process and notified Broward Sheriff Greg Tony that prosecutors would be formally vacating the old convictions.

Though the convictions are old, there may have been ongoing repercussions for those individuals in terms of criminal records, getting employment, housing, etc. Prosecutors and staff will also work to determine individuals’ eligibility to seal or expunge these records via the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s arrest sealing and expungement.

If you or a family member may have been affected, you can email our office at casereview@browardsao.com or call 954-831-6543. You do not have to contact us to be eligible, all cases will be reviewed. You do not need to hire an attorney.

Read State Attorney Pryor’s letter here. Read the Florida Supreme Court’s 1993 decision with the details of how the crack cocaine was manufactured here. The original case number for Mr. Williams case is 90003594CF10A on www.browardclerk.org The initial news release is here.