A Jacksonville man pleaded guilty Tuesday to drug and gun charges involving a suspected marijuana trafficker separately accused of a drive-by shooting on Interstate 95 in St. Johns County.
Al’Donta Easterling wasn’t charged with the shooting, but his plea in federal court strengthens a broader trafficking case prosecutors have built against Nathaniel Hatcher III, accused of running the pot ring and carrying out the shooting .
Easterling, 26, was indicted last month with Hatcher and another man, James Toney, on charges of conspiring to possess and distribute pot that prosecutors said was stuffed into suitcases and carried on airline flights from California, then inventoried in Jacksonville and sold in Airbnb homes to keep locations regularly changing.
Easterling was also charged with marijuana possession and possessing a gun for drug trafficking, counts based on a May traffic stop on Moncrief Road where court records say police found $1,281 in cash, a Glock 10mm pistol and about a pound of marijuana split between three between three vacuum-packed bags kept in a pet food container.