Five people face at least a decade in prison after admitting operating a Jacksonville-area drug ring where investigators seized about $1.6 million and pounds of fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin.
The ring “sourced narcotics from Mexican sources … and transported the drugs through Houston, Texas to Jacksonville,” according to federal court documents filed Aug. 25 about Natra Antonio Jones, 33, the last of the five to plead guilty after being indicted together in 2023.
Sentences for all five could be as long as life in prison (or more) and fines as high as $10 million or $20 million, depending on the case. Ten years is a mandatory minimum term because of the volume of drugs involved.
Investigators seized 32 pounds of fentanyl, 11 pounds of heroin, an automated money counter and thousands of dollars in cash during a drug raid in Oregon that recovered items similar to those found during 2023 raids in Northeast Florida.
More: U.S. Attorney: Florida shows decrease in fentanyl deaths for the first time in 12 years
Drug Enforcement Administration agents found $824,000 at ring member Shikita James’ home in Arlington’s Charter Point area, court records and a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrest report said about a May 2023 search of the property.
Weeks earlier, DEA agents had seized suitcases that Jones and co-defendant Bobby Harvey Jr. brought to Jacksonville International Airport for a flight to Houston.
One set of bags had $773,000 in cash and another had 11 pounds of fentanyl inside, said court filings written to show “factual basis” for the guilty pleas to drug conspiracy charges.
Trips to Houston were routine for ring members, but they rarely went far from the airport before handling business with suppliers, then catching flights home, court records said.
Drug shipments from Mexico into Texas were coordinated by member Aaron McGhee, 39, who was already serving prison time for a separate cocaine case and trading messages with James over a contraband cell phone he had hidden at Federal Correctional Institution Coleman in Central Florida, according to court records.
Another co-defendant, 50-year-old Johnny Angelo Pack, took charge of shipments in Texas and delivered them to homes in Jacksonville. From there, James, 38, passed the drugs to retail dealers in Jacksonville and Clay County, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a release.
Besides the cash at James’ home and the money and drugs seized at the airport, agents confiscated more than 14 pounds of fentanyl, about nine and a half pounds of methamphetamine and a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of heroin, the release said.
James, McGhee, Pack and Harvey, 28, are scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 11. Sentencing for Jones hasn’t been scheduled yet.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Fentanyl busts cost Jacksonville crime ring $1.6 million, prison time