A 36-year-old man was sentenced to 81 years in prison after being convicted of using drones to drop contraband to inmates in Florida detention facilities.
Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that Mario Brian Crawford was ordered to spend the next eight decades behind bars for delivering the illegal goods. He was sentenced in the 1st Judicial Circuit of Florida in Escambia County.
Officials say Crawford used drones to drop contraband such as drugs, cellphones, SIM data cards, charging cords, tobacco and razors to inmates. Facilities that he targeted include the Liberty Correctional Institute and the Okaloosa Correctional Institute. He was arrested at his home by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in March 2023.
“Our investigation is revealing he probably dropped drugs into dozens of other institutions,” Uthmeier said during a news conference in Milton.
Crawford was convicted of introduction or possession of contraband at a state facility, conspiracy to introduce or possess contraband at a state facility, trafficking in more than 10 grams of the stimulant drug cathinone, illegal use of a drone, and use of a two-communication device to facilitate a felony.
Several law enforcement agencies started the investigation along with help from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2022, when a drone containing contraband crashed outside the Century Correctional Institute near Pensacola. That investigation showed that Crawford owned the drone, which led officials to link other drone drops at multiple correctional facilities.
For Crawford, this is the latest in a long line of felony convictions. He has 49 previous convictions on charges including armed burglary, grand theft, various weapons charges, fraud and trafficking in stolen property.
Uthmeier acknowledged that drone deliveries to inmates in prisons is “a new trend.” But he added a warning.
“Everybody should think twice about operating a drone over a detention facility,” Uthmeier said.
