Tampa, Fla. – U.S. District Judge William F. Jung has sentenced Vicente Lopez Mero (67, Ecuador) to 19 years and 6 months in federal prison for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute cocaine on a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Lopez Mero pleaded guilty on...

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Malcolm Jamal Norvilus, 39, of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was sentenced July 1, 2025, to 120 months in federal prison after previously pleading guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute 50 Grams or More of Methamphetamine. The sentence was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney...

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – Calvin Eugene Williams, 35, of Panama City, Fla., has been indicted in federal court for trafficking in methamphetamine on two separate occasions. John P. Heekin, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced the charges. Williams was indicted for possessing with the intent to distribute...

SAN DIEGO – Jonathan Tyler Gauthier, a prolific fentanyl dealer who kept selling the deadly drug despite the fatal overdoses of two customers within a four-month span, was sentenced in federal court today to 30 years in prison. According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Gauthier sold the fentanyl that killed...

GAINESVILLE, FLA. – Khiri Jackson, 31, of Cross City, Fla., pled guilty in federal court to possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. The plea was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. U.S. Attorney Heekin said: “Methamphetamine...

PENSACOLA, FLA. – Today, United States Attorney John P. Heekin announced criminal charges against four defendants with an alleged scheme to unlawfully divert oxycodone, hydrocodone, and amphetamine. The charges filed in federal court are part of the Department of Justice’s 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown. All the cases are...

GAINESVILLE, FLA. – Ronald Carl Peavy II, 49, of Old Town, Fla., has been indicted in federal court for possessing with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida announced the charge. Peavy is scheduled for...

TALLAHASSEE, FLA – United States Attorney John P. Heekin announces the last of four co-defendants was sentenced today in a large-scale conspiracy that distributed over 1000 kilograms of marijuana in Tallahassee. Tyquan Watson, 28, of Tallahassee, Fla., received 10 years in prison. His half-brother, Cleveland Blackshear, 26, of Tallahassee also...

SAN DIEGO – Edgar Herrera Pardo, aka Caiman, an admitted violent cartel enforcer who ordered the killing of a Tijuana police officer, was sentenced in federal court today to 28 years in prison for trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine and heroin into the United States. Herrera Pardo was indicted in...

MIAMI – Luther Trovian Jones, 52, from Sebring, Florida, was sentenced yesterday by a South Florida federal district judge to 121 months for distribution of methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Jones was the subject of a joint investigation between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Highlands County...