(TAMPA, Fla.) - Tony Marvin Johnson (34, Bradenton) was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in federal prison for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. He had pleaded guilty on December 7, 2017.
According to court documents, on June 15, 2017, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Tampa District Office and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office conducted surveillance of known narcotics trafficking locations in Manatee County, during which they observed a white Buick sedan leaving a suspected drug house and determined that the registered owner of the car had a suspended driver’s license. As officers attempted to initiate a traffic stop, the vehicle kept moving.
When the car finally stopped, Michael Bernard Code got out of the passenger side of the car carrying a black object and fled on foot. Johnson, the driver, was patted down for weapons, during which a pill bottle containing approximately 8.5 grams of a white substance was found. The substance field-tested positive for cocaine. Officers also recovered $237 from a fanny-pack that was strapped to Johnson’s waistband and another $207 from his front pants’ pockets.
Shortly thereafter, Code returned to the car and was detained. Witnesses told law enforcement that they saw Code throw objects on the ground on two separate locations. A search of those locations revealed a black magnetic type box containing a digital scale, plastic baggies containing Xanax pills, approximately 13.5 grams of suspected fentanyl, 13 smaller baggies with suspected fentanyl weighing approximately 8.2 grams, and another baggy containing 26 individual small baggies which contained an off-white powdery substance weighing approximately 5.7 grams. The white substance field-tested positive for cocaine. The suspected fentanyl later lab-tested positive for MDMA.
Code later told law enforcement that Johnson had told him to run from the car and get rid of the objects. Code also stated that he “tested" narcotics for Johnson. Johnson told agents that he sold crack cocaine to support his mother.
This case was investigated by the DEA Tampa District Office and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, and was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office. This case is the result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation entitled “Hot Batch." The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.
More information about this case can be found at http://www.flmd.uscourts.gov or https://ecf.flmd.uscourts.gov
