Jacksonville man convicted for murder also sentenced to 20 years for armed drug dealing
Ronald Bernard Thomas, Jr. was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for selling methamphetamine while armed with two pistols.
The two pistols used in a previous crime. Thomas had pleaded guilty on Feb. 9, 2023.
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According to court documents, Thomas, who used the street name “Gorilla,” had been convicted of second-degree murder in 2002 after he shot an unarmed man, killing him. Thomas was sentenced to 20 years in prison for that crime and released from prison in 2017.
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According to the Department of Justice, by August 2021, Thomas had begun selling drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, out of Jacksonville-area hotels. Special agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were able to obtain controlled purchases of drugs from Thomas on multiple occasions in 2021 and 2022. During some of the drug purchases, Thomas displayed his firearms on the table where he weighed out and packaged the drugs that he was selling.
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On July 28, 2022, agents conducted a traffic stop on Thomas’s vehicle and arrested him pursuant to a federal arrest warrant. Thomas had a loaded Glock 9mm pistol in his pants pocket. A search of his vehicle revealed a second loaded pistol, with loaded magazine, methamphetamine, pills, and suspected heroin and fentanyl, in addition to scales, whisks, spoons, and plastic baggies.
Thomas has been detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since that time.
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