Lake City man gets 10 years for drug, weapons in Gainesville
A Lake City man was sentenced Tuesday in Gainesville Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison on weapon and drug convictions following an investigation by a multiagency effort to stem gun violence.
Lascelles Ford Jr. in January pleaded guilty to possession of drugs with intent to distribute, possession of a gun to further drug trafficking and possession of a gun by a convicted felon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported in a news release Friday.
Ford was arrested in April 2020 after an Alachua Police Department surveillance operation in a neighborhood after repeated complaints from residents.
Robert Robinson Sr., 27, pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
The charge originated from a March incident, when sheriff’s deputies were told of an armed confrontation in front of a gas station. The U.S. Attorney’s office said video footage showed Robinson got into a fight with another man the morning of March 1 and retrieved a 9-millimeter rifle from his trunk. He then drove away and tried escaping from law enforcement, tossing the rifle out of the car window.
Deputies blocked the road’s exit and stopped him.
The investigation and prosecution was taken over by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with investigative help from the Gainesville Gun Violence Initiative and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.