St. Augustine Man Sentenced To Eight Years For Selling Crack Cocaine

Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Henry L. Adams has sentenced James Ray Crooms (49, St. Augustine) to eight years in federal prison for selling cocaine base, also known as “crack” cocaine. Crooms was also sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, to run concurrent with his eight-year sentence, for violating his federal supervision by selling the crack. He had pleaded guilty on March 22, 2018.

According to court documents, on August 31, 2017, a confidential informant made a controlled purchase of .4 grams of crack cocaine from Crooms in St. Augustine. On November 29, 2017, an undercover detective with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office made a second controlled purchase of .5 grams of crack from Crooms. At the time of the sales, Crooms was on federal supervised release for a previous federal conviction for selling crack cocaine.

This case was investigated by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Cofer Taylor.