Viera-A Brevard County jury took less than two hours Thursday afternoon to find a 64-year-old Cocoa man, Patrick Badgett, guilty of trafficking in oxycodone/hydrocodone, a charge for which he faces a mandatory-minimum sentence of 25 years in prison, State Attorney Norm Wolfinger said.

Co-incidentally, the verdict came just as State Attorney General Pam Bondi with statewide prosecutors from her office, Brevard Sheriff Jack Parker, Satellite Beach Chief Lee Cody, and Wolfinger met with leaders of federal, state, and local law enforcement at Titusville Police Department where Chief Tony Bollinger outlined a multi-agency arrest Thursday of more than 20 people accused of similar crimes involving alleged pill mill operations.

State Attorney Wolfinger said such comprehensive efforts are needed to fight the virulent growth of prescription drug abuse and praised Cocoa Police Department for their hard work on the case that resulted in Thursday’s verdict.

"This is a scourge that reaches across all levels of society and one of the best things we can do it tear it out at its roots," Wolfinger said.

In the Thursday verdict, Badgett was accused of selling Oxycodone and Roxicodone pills to an undercover officer. The undercover agent purchased five pills from Badgett for $100.

Over four days of testimony, jurors heard about the items recovered at the house at 1112 Myrtle Lane during execution of a search and seizure warrant by Cocoa Police on Nov. 20, 2008: $18,000 in cash found in one of three safes; surveillance equipment connected to a large screen television in the living room; numerous firearms; and multiple bottles with differing individual’s names on the labels and containing hundreds of pills-a clear indication of a pill mill operation. The jury deliberated a brief hour and twenty minutes before returning with their verdict.

Assistant State Attorney Francis DeMuro who prosecuted the case said the proliferation of operations like the one in this case were nothing but a threat to his community.

"The criminal justice system, law enforcement, and responsible citizens can make a difference. Operations such as this need to be shut down before more good people succumb to this form of abuse, DeMuro said.

Badgett is scheduled to be sentenced on July 8 on the trafficking charge and on possession of methadone of which the jury also convicted him, and two counts of sale of a controlled substance which he pled to several weeks ago.