A Miami-Dade Sheriff’s deputy accused of trying to move Ecstasy onto a music-festival cruise is now staring down a summer trial date, after a judge on Thursday set the case for June.
The charges stem from an undercover operation at PortMiami in January 2025, when investigators say they found dozens of MDMA pills stashed inside candy packets as the deputy was preparing to board the ship.
In a brief hearing, Deputy Francisco Melo pleaded not guilty, and the judge slated the case for trial in June. Melo has already passed a drug test, and he had been with the sheriff’s office for six years before being relieved of duty following his arrest, according to NBC 6 South Florida. The judge set the month but did not lock in an exact calendar date.
How investigators say he hid the pills
Authorities say the case traces back to a December undercover purchase that put detectives on Melo’s trail. By late January, they moved in at PortMiami as he prepared to board Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, which had been privately chartered for a multi-day music festival…