U.S. Department
of Justice
Pensacola Man Pleads Guilty To Drug Trafficking And Firearm Offenses
PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida announced that John W. Rudolph, 39, of Pensacola, Florida, pled guilty this morning on federal charges of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Rudolph is scheduled to be sentenced on September 10, 2013 before Senior United States District Judge Lacey A. Collier.
According to Government filings in this case, on April 26, 2013, law enforcement officers from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office received information that Rudolph, who had active arrest warrants, was at the Western Inn in Pensacola, Florida, with a firearm. The officers responded to the area and observed Rudolph with a black leather bag. As officers approached, Rudolph attempted to flee but was subsequently apprehended. Upon his arrest, officers found a loaded revolver, cocaine, a digital scale, and $1,000 in cash on Rudolph’s person and a black leather bag nearby containing a large quantity of individually packaged baggies of marijuana.
On the controlled substance offense, Rudolph faces up to thirty years of imprisonment, up to six years of supervised release, and up to a $6 million fine. For possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, he faces a mandatory five years of imprisonment up to life imprisonment consecutive to any other sentence, up to three years of supervised release, and up to a $250,000 fine. On the possession of a firearm by a felon, Rudolph faces a mandatory fifteen years of imprisonment up to life imprisonment, up to three years of supervised release, and up to a $250,000 fine.
This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Neighborhoods” program - a nationwide, gun-violence reduction strategy led by ATF. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Goldberg of the Northern District of Florida.