'You see the damage this can cause': Judge gives ex-firefighter prison for having rave drugs
A former Jacksonville firefighter is headed to prison for receiving about four pounds of party drugs like the pills first responders see when they're called to help people who've overdosed.
'You see the damage this can cause in your job,' U.S. District Judge Wendy Berger told Fernando Jackman before sentencing him May 28 to two years behind bars followed by two years of supervised release.
Jackman, 35, pleaded guilty in February to possession with intent to distribute MDA, a rave drug that can cause psychedelic effects and feelings of connectedness with the world. MDA overdoses can raise a person's heart rate, blood pressure or body temperature, sometimes triggering convulsions or death.
More: Florida's overall overdose deaths drop, but some lethal drugs are on the rise
'He had no business being in this business,' Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Tysen Duva told Berger, saying involvement with drugs was costing Jackman a career her cared about with a middle-class salary and a retirement plan. The maximum sentence Jackman could have faced was 20 years in prison.
Florida law says his conviction will prevent Jackman from being certified as a firefighter again.
U.S. Postal Service inspectors in October 2024 had flagged as suspicious a package addressed to Jackman with $98.70 postage paid untraceably in cash, his plea agreement said.
After a Florida Highway Patrol drug-sniffing dog alerted to the package, inspectors got a search warrant and opened the item, which contained 1,802 grams of MDA express-mailed from El Paso, Texas, near the Mexican border.
Jackman, who worked at Fire Station 29 on McCormick Road, was arrested after a postal tracking system emailed that his package was ready for pickup and Jackman collected it at the Pottsburg Post Office on Beach Boulevard.
A firefighter for five years, Jackman had a past with habits he'd mostly sworn off, but he had continued occasionally ordering pills for wild weekends with friends, defense attorney Mitch Stone told the judge.
Stone said the shipment Jackman received was a lot larger than he'd asked for, putting his client on the hook for a longer sentence for reasons that were out of Jackman's hands.
But Duva said investigators learned two other packages had been shipped from Texas earlier and said drug dealers only send products when they think they'll make money.
Duva said Jackman cooperated with prosecutors but 'didn't really know the source' of the drugs and couldn't help authorities expand their case.
Jackman resigned from the fire department after his arrest and has been working in restaurants to support his family, Stone said.
Berger told Jackman to report to prison by June 27.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Party drugs end Jacksonville firefighter's career, send him to prison
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