Pasco deputies confiscate large cache of weapons in drug raid

An early morning drug raid led to four arrests Friday and the confiscation of a cache of firearms that included assault weapons, handguns and at least one pistol with a silencer that a Pasco sheriff's lieutenant likened to "something you would see in a spy movie."

At a Friday afternoon news conference, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office displayed 49 guns and boxes of ammunition that were seized at four locations in Pasco and Pinellas counties during the raid that began about 6 a.m.

"These are not sporting weapons here," Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco said. "These are weapons used to kill people."

The raid was the culmination of an undercover drug investigation that the sheriff's office began in November and included the assistance of the New Port Richey Police Department, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and the Tarpon Springs Police Department.

Over the last three months, undercover officers bought 617 grams of cocaine and one .380-caliber handgun from two people identified as drug dealers, the sheriff's office reported.

Gyasi Heard, 32, of 1544 Starlight Cove, Tarpon Springs, and Christopher Vasquez, 33, of 6028 Nebraska Ave., New Port Richey, were both charged with conspiracy to traffic in cocaine.

The sheriff's office identified Vasquez as a registered sex offender and a gang member with the Bloods.

Also arrested were Vasquez's wife, Crystal, 25, charged with armed trafficking in cocaine and Jessica Colon, 25, of 1544 Starlight Cove, Tarpon Springs, charged with possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia.

Colon was booked into the Pinellas County Jail with bail set at $2,000. Bail information about the other three was not available.

More than half the firearms were seized from a house on Robellini Way in Trinity, though no one was there at the time. A dozen were seized from Legacy Tattoo, a business that Heard owns in Palm Harbor, the sheriff's office reported.

Lt. Chuck Balderstone, supervisor of the vice and narcotics unit, said the sheriff's office anticipated finding weapons, but had no idea there would be such a large collection.

"I think there's enough here to start a small coup and take over New Port Richey," he said.