The sentence was announced today by John P. Heekin, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
According to court records, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office searched Wingate on December 14, 2023, after he was found in a vehicle with a wanted felon and illegal drugs, and found large quantities of methamphetamine, fentanyl powder, and fentanyl pills on his person.
The S.O. encountered Wingate again on June 19, 2024, outside a bar in Destin, when he was found sleeping in a vehicle that smelled strongly of marijuana. Investigators arrested him on a state warrant but later discovered that he discarded a bag of fentanyl powder near his vehicle right before he was searched.
“This defendant has flooded our communities with deadly poison that inflicted untold harm and destruction, but thanks to the incredible work of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office he will spend his days in a federal prison cell,” Heekin said in a news release. “My office will stand shoulder to shoulder with the brave men and women of our state law enforcement partners to make our communities safe by aggressively prosecuting those who traffic dangerous drugs.”
“Fentanyl and methamphetamine are poisoning our communities at an alarming rate,” Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said in the news release. “This case, however, is a great example of how teamwork between local and federal agencies can help get dangerous individuals and the poison they peddle off our streets.”
Also in the news release, DEA Miami Field Division Special Agent in Charge Deanne L. Reuter said, “People who peddle these deadly substances have zero regard for other lives. They profit on suffering, and our agents will not stop until these traffickers are brought to justice.”
The case involved a joint investigation by the Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Walter Narramore.
