Ocala, Florida - U.S. Senior District Judge James D. Whittemore today sentenced Jeremy Jermaine Willis (37, Ocala) to 20 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl. The court also sentenced co-defendants Gary Eugene Hayes (38, Ocala) and Darren Michael Beatty (30, Ocala) to 15 years in federal prison each, for their involvement in the same conspiracy. All three men had pleaded guilty in 2019.
According to court documents, between January 2012 and May 2019, Willis, Hayes, and Beatty were members of a conspiracy that distributed hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and heroin through a network of stash houses in Marion County. Large quantities of the heroin were also laced with fentanyl.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Ocala Police Department, the Unified Drug Enforcement Strike Team (UDEST), the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation Division. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney William S. Hamilton.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys