• On May 1, 1982 the Boca Beacon
reported that a local man had taken
possession of 7,000 pounds of marijuana
from a Colombian sailboat in Boca Grande
Pass, and then took it to Little Gasparilla
Island.
• On August 1, 1982 a 44-foot Striker
was confi scated by offi cials, who said it had
been used for drug smuggling. They did not
comment further on their investigation.
• On April 3, 1983 the Boca Beacon
reported that law enforcement was
investigating the drowning of a Freeport,
Texas man whom they believed jumped off
a 70-foot shrimp boat holding 605 bales of
marijuana, after the vessel became stuck
between Boca Grande and Fort Myers. The
boat was confi scated.
• In the February 15, 1985 edition of the
Boca Beacon a story was written about a
boat that was found in the mangroves of
Charlotte Harbor. Aboard was a man from
Key West and a man from Freeport, Texas
… and a whole lot of marijuana. In all, 100
bales of pot were found on the boat and
220 more bales were found fl oating on the
water. In 1985 its street value was a little over
$10 million.
• On September 1, 1985 the Boca Beacon
reported that the U.S. Coast Guard seized a
65-foot shrimp boat six miles north of Boca
Grande, carrying six people and 30,000
pounds of marijuana.
• On November 21, 1986 a young local
man was found dead from a single gunshot
to the head about one-half of a mile outside
Boca Grande Pass. A concrete block was
found tied to the victim’s neck. The death
was ruled as a homicide. It was believed
to either be a drug deal gone wrong, or
a rivalry amongst fi shermen for another
reason.
• On October 3, 1987 the Boca Beacon
reported that three mullet skiffs loaded with
more than $6,000 of marijuana were found
abandoned in Gasparilla Pass. They also
took possession of a 42-foot “mothership,”
from which they believed the marijuana was
offl oaded.
• In the August 12, 1988 edition of the
Boca Beacon, the Charlotte County Sheriff
72 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • January/February • 2021
at the time, Glenn Sapp, was trying hard to
keep up with the times by adding personnel
to the sheriff’s offi ce, working closely with
customs agents and adding a net boat
to the county’s store of transportation
modes on the water. It was a boat that was
confi scating from smugglers.
There are other stories that are not so
well documented. One is the tale of two
mullet fi shermen who were murdered after
coming upon a drug deal. The teller of the
tale, who wishes to remain nameless, said
after they were killed their boats and bodies
were taken to Walter Gault’s Fish House (at
the Old Fishery) in the middle of the night,
and the fi sh crane was used to haul their
heavyset bodies up onto the dock. The case
has never been solved.
Another tale is told of a DC3 that crashed
at the Rotonda Airport, when it overshot
the runway and burst into fl ame in the
palmettos. The load was burned up in the
incident.
One of the most interesting stories,
though, was about Raymond Stansel. In
2015 the Tampa Bay Times wrote an article
about a man found dead in Australia, after
a car accident claimed his life. The man,
who had been living under the assumed
last name Lafferty, was later revealed to be
Raymond Stansel. Stansel had been wanted
for drug smuggling in Florida since the
1970s, yet he was a familiar face around
Boca Grande for many.
Strangely enough, even the man known
as Lafferty was supposed to be dead, as he
had been reported as such in 1975, after a
scuba diving accident in Honduras.
It is believed that Stansel continued to
smuggle drugs right up until his departure
to Australia, and he would frequently be
seen around the island in the late 1960s
and in 1970. He was described as a likeable
fellow, and he captained for many very
famous and wealthy clients. If there was a
social event amongst the “beachfronters”
in Boca Grande during those years, Stansel
would be there.
Many didn’t even know that one of his side
jobs was to smuggle very large amounts
of drugs. There are confl icting stories as to