The Miramar Fire Rescue drug scandal began to unravel in January when an informant told federal agents that firefighters were selling Ecstasy pills at local bars and giving drug-fueled parties at a Davie home, according to a search warrant.
When the agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration picked through a garbage can outside the home where two firefighters lived last month, they found empty sandwich bags covered with Ecstasy dust and glow sticks, nasal inhalers, chewed gum and other telltale evidence of chemically driven raves, the warrant says.
Almost two weeks ago, DEA agents arrested Lt. Carey Kovacs, 29; Capt. Valetin Srbovan, 37; and Charles Dixon, 33, a recent graduate of the fire academy. Kovacs and Srbovan were immediately suspended with pay.
Miramar Chief James Hunt quickly condemned any drug use and suspended six more firefighters with pay in conjunction with an internal investigation.
Monday, the city’s Human Resources Department released their names.
They are driver engineer Kevin Neugent, 27; firefighter paramedic Joshua Cornblit, 25; firefighter paramedic Manuel Garcia, 27; firefighter paramedic Rodolfo Valdes, 27; driver engineer Robert Dixon, 31; and the wife of Valetin Srbovan, firefighter paramedic Tracie Srbovan, 33.
Hunt has said that he does not expect more arrests or suspensions. To his knowledge, he said, all alleged drug use happened when the firefighters were off duty.
After the DEA got the tip, agents began watching the Davie home where Kovacs and Dixon lived together in the 200 block of Magnolia Avenue.
On Jan. 17, agents rooted through the pair’s trash and found sandwich bags covered with Ecstasy dust and other items indicative of drug use. Revelers on Ecstasy use glow sticks and vapor inhalers to heighten the effect of the drug, drink bottled water to cool their bodies and chew gum to ease involuntary jaw clenching that accompanies the high, the warrant says.
A week later, DEA agents searched the trash again and found more sandwich bags lined with Ecstasy power and another cache of rave party favors, the warrant says.
When DEA agents raided the home on Feb. 3, they found Ecstasy, cocaine and steroids in Kovacs’ bedroom, and a bottle of laughing gas, bullets and a gun in his truck, the warrant says. Kovacs later admitted that he sold the drugs to other firefighters, according an arrest affidavit.
In Dixon’s room, investigators found 18 Ecstasy tablets and other drugs. In 2005, he was arrested for carrying a concealed firearm, the warrant shows.
Staff Writer Georgia East and Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.
Andrew Ryan can be reached at or 954-385-7922.
