Port St. Lucie police arrested a man on fentanyl trafficking charges after investigators used a fatal overdose victim's phone to arrange a drug buy, leading to a search that turned up firearms, drugs, and more than $17,000 in cash at his home.
Danilo Jaramillo, 43, faces multiple felony drug charges including fentanyl trafficking, three felony weapons counts, and a misdemeanor paraphernalia charge after the September 13 investigation. Police responded that day to an apartment at 700 SE Collins Lane for an overdose, where they found 34-year-old Miqueias Oliveira Silva dead with a bloody syringe and a bag of cocaine next to him.
Rigor mortis suggested Silva had been dead for about 24 hours, according to the arrest affidavit. A neighbor who called 911 told police he last saw Silva getting out of the passenger side of a black SUV before going inside.
Investigators went through Silva's phone and found months of text exchanges with a contact saved under the name Danilo Jaramillo, going back to August 17. The messages followed a pattern, with Silva asking if Jaramillo was available and Jaramillo confirming before the two met up. Police used Silva's phone to text Jaramillo and arrange another deal.
Jaramillo responded he could be there within the hour. Investigators followed Jaramillo's black Kia Telluride to Silva's apartment complex, then pulled him over. A K9 alerted to narcotics inside the vehicle, and investigators found a bag of fentanyl on the passenger seat along with a large amount of cash.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for Jaramillo's home on SW Longfellow Road. In the master bedroom, they found three firearms including a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun, a Ruger LC9, and an AR-15, along with ammunition, digital scales, a written ledger, cocaine, marijuana, and $17,715 in cash. Jaramillo's wife, Selina Jaramillo, was home with their children during the search.
She told investigators she didn't know he was involved in drugs and said she'd last seen him with narcotics about eight months earlier. She said one of the firearms was hers, but the rest, along with the drugs and cash, belonged to her husband. Jaramillo told police anything illegal in the home belonged to him, then asked for a lawyer before answering further questions.
Because Jaramillo is a convicted felon, investigators charged him with three counts of possessing a firearm or ammunition as a felon. He was booked into the St. Lucie County jail.