Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the conviction of a Jacksonville man for engineering a scheme to smuggle drugs and contraband using drones into Florida prisons while speaking at a press conference in Milton today.
Mario Crawford, 36, was sentenced to 81 years after an investigation into a crashed drone filled with contraband, including cell phones, SIM cards, charging cords, tobacco, cocaine, methamphetamines, and razor blades, was found by Century Correctional Institute officers in September 2022.
Investigators later traced the drone back to Crawford with help from the Federal Aviation Administration. Other drones used by Crawford to smuggle contraband were also linked to Liberty Correctional Institute and the Okaloosa Correctional Institute.
“Trafficking drugs and razor blades into our prisons puts the lives of Florida’s corrections officers at risk, and that risk is not something we are going to tolerate,” Uthmeier said. "Someone with 49 prior convictions for dangerous crimes should’ve never been allowed to walk free again, but my office is cracking down on career criminals, and he will spend the rest of his life behind bars."
"I thank Secretary Dixon, his team, and our Statewide Prosecutors for their commitment to justice and the safety of Floridians.”
Crawford was initially arrested on charges of Introduction or Possession of Contraband at State Facility, Conspiracy to Introduce or Possess Contraband at State Facility, Trafficking in Over 10 Grams of Cathinone, Illegal Use of a Drone, and Use of a Two-Way Communication Device to Facilitate Felony.
His 49 prior convictions included armed burglary, grand theft, various weapons charges, fraud, and trafficking in stolen property.
Crawford was found guilty on all counts on March 12.
"We are proud a drug dealer is off the streets and going to prison where he belongs," Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson commented. "His actions dropping drugs into and around prisons endangers all the amazing staff that work inside the prison. We will continue to aggressively pursue these types of drug dealers and put them in jail."
