A Pompano Beach restaurant owner is facing charges after authorities say he ran a major drug dealing operation.
Louis Younglove Sr., 57, was arrested Thursday on multiple drug trafficking charges, Broward Sheriff's Office officials said.
Younglove, the owner of Chi-Town Chicago Italian Beef & Hot Dogs on Southeast 15th Street in Pompano Beach, had been under investigation for months, officials said.
The monthslong investigation culminated Thursday when detectives conducted a traffic stop on Younglove in the parking lot of the eatery and found a dufflebag containing a smorgasbord of illegal drugs including cocaine, fentanyl, ecstasy, marijuana and various prescription drugs, officials said. Detectives also found more than $18,000 in cash.
The restauranteur's 24-year-old son, Adam Younglove, a passenger in the car, was also found in possession of fentanyl and marijuana and was arrested, officials said.
When detectives served a search warrant at Younglove’s Oakland Park home they discovered even more illegal narcotics inside, as well as nearly $500,000 in cash, officials said.
"This was not like your average street supplier who maybe sold a couple of bags of cocaine on the side. This was a systematic operation to distribute a lot of narcotics. He had a lot of cash," said BSO Lt. Andrea Tianga. "This was not normal for your average street sale. This was a huge operation."
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Louis Younglove was booked into jail where he remained Monday evening. Attorney information wasn't available.
"This was a great person to get off the street. The community was completely fed up which is how we became involved," Tianga said. "This was a significant amount of narcotics, prepackaged for selling, and it was a significant amount of money that didn’t seem to us to be like through hot dog sales."
