A short drive in Jacksonville has turned into a very long stretch in federal prison for a local man who took the wheel for the final leg of a coast-to-coast drug run.
On Wednesday, 51-year-old Owens Coleman Parker Jr. was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison after admitting he drove the last 0.8 miles of a cross-country shipment that federal agents say hid kilos of fentanyl and methamphetamine in a concealed compartment. Prosecutors say the load arrived from Arizona, was handed off locally in Jacksonville, and then passed to Parker for the brief delivery to a nearby home. He will serve his term in federal custody.
The sentence was imposed in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville by Judge Jordan E. Pratt after a hearing earlier this week. The court’s calendar shows the case was set for the week of June 22, according to the U.S. District Court.
Hidden cargo and the local hand-off
As reported by the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union, Parker pleaded guilty in February to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl. Investigators, court filings and local reporting say agents discovered 26 vacuum-sealed bundles in a hidden compartment of a Honda Pilot after the shipment traveled more than 1,800 miles from Arizona…