JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A drive-by shooting on Interstate 95 last year happened after someone connected to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office leaked information that a drug ring used to settle a grudge over a $45,000 rip-off, according to a document filed Wednesday in federal court.
The October 2023 shooting near St. Johns County Road 210 has become a key part of a federal prosecution of members of a pot-selling organization whose suspected leader is accused of distributing more than a ton of marijuana products since 2022.
A plea agreement involving the brother of accused ringleader Nathaniel Hatcher, James Toney, says Hatcher had brought $45,000 to a planned drug deal but was cheated by two strangers who left with the money in a Mercedes that Hatcher tried in vain to hold onto.
Toney, 19, pleaded guilty Wednesday to gun and drug charges that will put him behind bars for at least 15 years. As part of that plea, he initialed page after page of a plea agreement that gives the fullest account yet released about the shooting and events like the rip-off that the document says led up to it.
As Hatcher tried to track down the thieves, the document says, "Hatcher contacted a former JSO officer by FaceTime video call. The former JSO officer illegally, without authorization, and at Hatcher's request, relayed the identities of the ... subjects to Hatcher by disclosing their full names from ... [a] JSO incident report."
Police had stopped the Mercedes earlier on the day of the rip-off and arrested the car's driver for cocaine possession, the document says. But he had asked police to release the car to his companions and they complied after writing down everyone's name.
Hatcher, who was indicted with Toney and another man, has pleaded not guilty and has not corroborated the account in the plea agreement.
The document doesn't identify the supposed leaker but says "the former officer was subsequently arrested and charged in Duval County, and has since pleaded guilty to unauthorized access."
Parts of the account of a leaker in the Sheriff's Office align with public information involving Christopher Barr, who resigned as a police officer after being arrested in January. Barr pleaded guilty to unauthorized access in May.
An affidavit for a warrant to arrest Barr on state charges said an unspecified law enforcement agency provided information that Barr "may have searched and disseminated information from law enforcement databases on 09-19-23," which was the day after the rip-off described in Toney's plea agreement. The affidavit said "a subject in the investigation sent a group chat to multiple other individuals asking about details of a police interaction in Jacksonville" and that the unnamed subject said they planned to reach out to Barr.
It's not known whether Barr is the officer described in the plea agreement. The Sheriff's Office had not responded Thursday afternoon to email and phone messages seeking comment.
The document says Hatcher was ripped off at 11:45 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2023, and that "beginning on Sept. 19, 2023, the defendant, Hatcher and other members of the DTO ["drug trafficking organization," the pot ring] discussed plans to retaliate with physical violence, including threats against family members."
According to a part of the plea agreement labeled as "factual basis" for the charges, pot ring members got their chance for retribution after going to the Duval County Courthouse on Oct. 17, 2023. A man who had sold Hatcher a "sample" pound of pot that led to the rip-off meeting was there for a court hearing, and afterwards Toney, Hatcher, and other pot ring members covertly matched the Mercedes' path south down I-95 from downtown.
"The defendant [Toney] in the red Dodge Charger and Hatcher in the gray Audi SUV pursued and boxed in the Mercedes sedan," the document says. "The red Dodge Charger pulled directly in front of the Mercedes and the gray Audi SUV remained to the Mercedes' right. To the Mercedes' left was the median barrier. According to a dashboard camera from a vehicle traveling along I-95 South at the same time, a subject appeared to be hanging out of the back left passenger window of the red Dodge ... Within seconds, the video shows multiple gunshots being fired from the red Dodge Charger into the Mercedes."
The driver was shot and the car rolled into a guardrail and stopped as a terrified female passenger phoned for help. Both recovered from injuries.
Toney is at least the fourth person connected to Hatcher who has pleaded guilty to gun, drug or financial crimes involving the ring, whose members often moved pot from California into Florida in luggage on commercial airlines and sold it at Airbnb homes rented for short-term use.
Hatcher, 28, is scheduled to stand trial in February and at least some of the ring members, who are awaiting sentencing, have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors still building cases.
Circumstances of the shooting weren't disclosed when Toney was charged except for prosecutors saying it was "in furtherance of a major drug offense," a reference to the pot ring's dealings.
Toney had faced three charges that involved conspiring to distribute a controlled substance ― in his case, 100 kilograms, or 220 pounds of pot ― as well as carrying out a drive-by shooting and using a gun in a violent crime. Toney pleaded guilty to all three, so his motivation in entering the plea wasn't clear, but prosecutors did agree not to bring any other charges for any actions they were aware of.
Mandatory sentences will require him to be locked up at least five years for the drug conspiracy and another 10 for use of the gun. Toney's maximum potential sentence is a life term in prison plus 65 years, U.S. Magistrate Monte Richardson said during a hearing that's required to ensure a defendant understands the stakes in pleading guilty.
Toney's sentencing date hasn't been set.
