A trio of drug dealers were recently sentenced following Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit arrests – CCSO
Francesco Abbruzzino, The Uncensored Report, LLC
CCSO
A trio of drug dealers were recently sentenced following Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit arrests.
On December 10, 2025, Crystal R. Gilbert (5/17/1981) received a lengthy prison sentence after pleading no contest in court to narcotics-related charges. Gilbert was sentenced to seven years in the Florida Department of Corrections, followed by five years of probation. This stemmed from an undercover operation where the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit purchased a trafficking amount of powder cocaine from Gilbert while her young child was standing right next to her.
On December 23, 2025, two of Charlotte County’s large scale methamphetamine dealers received lengthy prison sentences after pleading no contest in court to several narcotics-related charges. Steven P. Whalen (11/14/1975) was sentenced to 12 years in the Florida Department of Corrections based on three different undercover operations in which the Narcotics Unit purchased trafficking amounts of methamphetamine from Whalen each time. When Whalen was taken into custody, he had a trafficking amount of methamphetamine in his possession at the time as well. Cynthia L. Turner (11/01/1989) was also sentenced to eight years in the Florida Department of Corrections, followed by seven years Drug Offender Probation. Turner was the subject of four different undercover operations in which the Narcotics Unit purchased methamphetamine, with three of the purchases being for trafficking amounts.
“When we share our narcotics arrests with the community, there are often some people who express doubt that the suspects will be held accountable. As you can see from these three individuals, they are. My Narcotics Unit does an excellent job putting cases together, backed with solid evidence, to ensure the people doing this in our community are locked away. This isn’t about addiction, it’s about a conscious choice to sell deadly poison, putting our residents and visitors in danger.”
Sheriff Bill Prummell