Key West man sentenced in school-zone drug sales case

Cocaine sales within 1,000 feet of The Basilica School of St. Mary Star of the Sea pushed a Key West narcotics case into felony territory, and Bobby Allen, 66, was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months in the Florida Department of Corrections after prosecutors tied him to three controlled buys near Windsor Lane and Olivia Street.

County Judge Mark Wilson imposed the sentence on three separate cases, ordering the terms to run concurrently and adding $2,739 in fines and court costs. The case was built around sales investigators documented on Dec. 6, Dec. 13 and Dec. 18, 2024, all in a school zone that made the allegations more serious than an ordinary street-level drug case.

The Monroe County State Attorney’s Office said the buys were conducted by the Key West Police Department Special Operations Division using pre-recorded currency and audio and video surveillance. Detectives said they observed Allen sell about 1.9 grams, 1.1 grams and 4.0 grams of cocaine during the operations, and he was positively identified during each transaction. The encounters were also captured with live-streamed surveillance equipment and body-worn cameras, giving prosecutors a record of repeated sales rather than a one-time arrest.

Arrest warrants were issued Jan. 31, 2025, and Allen was taken into custody shortly afterward. Assistant State Attorney Carter Reeves prosecuted the case, while Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield said the conduct was not an isolated lapse. “This was not a one time mistake. This was repeated, deliberate drug dealing taking place steps away from a school,” Mansfield said, adding praise for the Key West Police Department Special Operations Division.

The sentence lands as Key West and Monroe County continue to lean on specialized narcotics enforcement in compact neighborhoods where school traffic, residents and visitors all move through the same streets. The city’s police department says its Operations Bureau includes patrol and the K-9 unit, and the bureau, listed under Captain Bradley Lariz, is the arm of the department that responds to calls and works to deter and detect crime. In a city with tight blocks and school-zone boundaries that can transform a case, the Allen prosecution showed how repeated buys, not just a single stop, can drive a prison sentence.