Members of Jacksonville Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced to Prison for Roles in Drive-By Shooting on I-95

Jacksonville, Florida / Monday, February 23, 2026 – James Toney (20, Jacksonville) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger to 16 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute marijuana, committing a drive-by shooting in furtherance of a major drug offense, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement. 

Judge Schlesinger also sentenced Javon Davis (27, Jacksonville) to 7 years in federal prison and Christian Guyton (23, Jacksonville) to 8 years and 4 months in federal prison, both for conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute marijuana.

According to court documents, Toney, Davis, and Guyton served as armed distributors for a Jacksonville-based drug trafficking organization (DTO), operated and led by Nathaniel Hatcher, III. Hatcher’s DTO trafficked bulk marijuana from Northern California to Jacksonville by smuggling the drug on commercial airlines, shipping it through the mail, and transporting it by vehicle across state lines. Once the marijuana arrived in Jacksonville, Hatcher and the other DTO members transported the marijuana to various short-term rental homes throughout Jacksonville where they stored, packaged, and distributed the marijuana. Hatcher and other members of the DTO carried and possessed firearms at these residences to protect themselves, their drugs, and their drug proceeds during drug sales. In addition to trafficking, transporting, smuggling, and selling marijuana, Toney was also responsible for carrying out violence on behalf of the DTO. Hatcher had assistance from a former correctional officer, Desmond Maxwell, to unlawfully buy firearms on behalf of Hatcher and members of the DTO. 

On September 18, 2023, Hatcher, Toney, and other DTO members arranged a bulk marijuana transaction with subjects whom they had met that evening in Jacksonville. The drug transaction, which occurred at a gas station along Old St. Augustine Road, failed. The other subjects never provided the promised marijuana, and instead, stole approximately $45,000 from Hatcher and Toney. After the failed drug transaction, Hatcher contacted a former police officer who illegally accessed law enforcement databases to provide Hatcher with the names and addresses of the subjects who had stolen the money. For nearly a month, Toney, Davis, Guyton, and other DTO members tracked, surveilled, and cyber-stalked the other subjects and their family members. In text messages, they plotted retaliation for the robbery, including committing acts of violence.

On October 15, 2023, Briyhon Johnson and Toney traveled to the Jacksonville International Airport to break into a rental car lot. They stole two cars with the intention of using one of the stolen cars in the planned retaliation.

Two days later, on October 17, 2023, Toney traveled to the Duval County courthouse for a scheduled court date in an unrelated pending criminal matter. Toney and other DTO members knew that one of the subjects from the September 18 failed drug transaction also had court that day for a separate criminal matter. After court concluded, Hatcher and other DTO members surveilled this subject as he exited the Duval County courthouse, accompanied by a female subject, and entered his vehicle.

Toney traveled to meet with Johnson, who provided Toney with a firearm. Johnson, Toney, Hatcher, and Tavarius Blue were operating multiple vehicles, including a stolen sedan and an SUV. They followed the subject’s vehicle from downtown Jacksonville to I-95, traveling southbound toward St. Johns County. Darion Jerido was driving a separate sedan, acting as the lookout for the others and keeping pace with the subject’s car. Johnson was driving the stolen sedan, with Toney traveling in the passenger seat. Blue was driving the SUV, with Hatcher traveling in passenger seat. At approximately 11:20 a.m., during the pursuit along I-95 South, the stolen sedan and the SUV boxed the subject’s sedan into the left lane of traffic. Toney and Hatcher discharged dozens of rounds of 7.62 caliber ammunition at the subject’s sedan. According to witness interviews, Johnson and Toney were both wearing masks. Following the shooting, the red sedan and the gray SUV fled the scene.

Officers with the St. Johns County Sheriffs’ Office and emergency medical personnel arrived on scene. The male subject from the courthouse sustained one gunshot wound but survived and was air-lifted to a trauma unit. The front passenger of his vehicle, the female subject from the courthouse, suffered injuries from broken glass. The sedan sustained gunshots to the passenger side, the rear, the front and hood, the front windshield, the interior, and the engine block. On scene, deputies recovered approximately 25 spent 7.62 caliber shell casings. According to ballistics analysis, two different firearms were used during the shooting.

This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Highway Patrol. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elisibeth Adams.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).

Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida

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