United States Drug Enforcement Administration

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Charlie N. Steans, 58, of Pensacola, Fla., and of Texas City, Texas, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine between Texas and Escambia County, Florida. The sentence was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

U.S. Attorney Heekin said: “I applaud the excellent collaborative work of our state and federal law enforcement partners to stop this individual from continuing to flood our streets with deadly drugs. My office will continue to deliver successful prosecutions and substantial prison sentences for drug traffickers, like this defendant, as part of the Homeland Security Task Force’s whole-of-government approach to eliminating and eradicating organized criminal enterprises that threaten the safety of our communities.”

Court documents reflect that Steans was caught at a Greyhound Bus Station in Houston, Texas, with approximately 10 kilograms of methamphetamine and one kilogram of cocaine hidden in his luggage in early 2023. He was able to bond out of a Texas state jail after being caught only to be arrested again in late-2024, this time on a Greyhound Bus in Mississippi heading toward Pensacola, Florida, with nearly 4 kilograms of cocaine in his possession. At that point, law enforcement from multiple jurisdictions connected Steans to being an interstate transporter of large amounts of drugs between Texas and Florida with the drugs destined for Pensacola. Steans was then taken into federal custody based on charges out of the Northern District of Florida.

“Our agents and law enforcement partners will continue to fight those trafficking poisons into our Florida communities,” said DEA Miami Field Division Special Agent in Charge Deanne L. Reuter. “Whether by bus, tractor trailer, plane, or boat, we will find you and bring you to justice.”

The case involved a joint investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Pensacola Police Department; the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office; the Florida Department of Law Enforcement; and the Florida Highway Patrol.  The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF comprises agents and officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida.