Guilty Verdict and Six-Figure Fine Delivered After Traffic Stop Uncovers Hidden Drugs
MARION COUNTY, Fla. – A Marion County jury has found Jefferey Randolph Grubbs, 42, guilty of trafficking fentanyl and possession of paraphernalia, resulting in a 31-year prison sentence. The conviction, handed down today, concludes a case that began with a routine traffic stop in September 2022.
Following the jury’s decision, Judge Timothy McCourt sentenced Grubbs to 30 years for the trafficking conviction and a consecutive year for the paraphernalia charge. He was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine.
The case originated when Officer Matthews of the Ocala Police Department (OPD) stopped Grubbs’s silver car for an inoperable tag light. During the stop, OPD K9 Officer Prather deployed his K9 partner, Graham, who alerted to the vehicle. As Grubbs was asked to exit, officers noticed a cigarette box he had been handling between the seats. Inside the box, a folded bill contained a crystal-like substance, leading to Grubbs’s immediate arrest…