Florida Officer Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for Stealing Seized DEA Drugs After Pleading Guilty

MIAMI—A Florida law enforcement officer has been sentenced to over 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing drugs, money, and firearms from federal investigations. He had even confessed to replacing a kilogram of cocaine seized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration with a counterfeit kilo produced by a 3D printer.

James Hickox’s sentence, delivered on Monday in a Jacksonville federal court, represents the toughest punishment yet among more than 20 DEA agents and task force officers recently indicted for a range of offenses, including perjury, assault, wire fraud, and money laundering tied to the very drug cartels the DEA is meant to combat.

Hickox, a sergeant with the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, was apprehended in 2023 alongside Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Joshua Earrey on charges of drug possession with intent to distribute. Both were part of a DEA-led task force based in Jacksonville.

Under his plea agreement, Hickox acknowledged receiving upwards of $420,000 for routinely stealing and selling marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs that were part of DEA operations, while falsely asserting that the evidence had been properly destroyed.

He also admitted that in 2022, he swapped out a kilogram of DEA-seized cocaine for a nearly indistinguishable brick made from a 3D printer and sprinkled with real cocaine to give it a façade of legitimacy. Hickox then provided the authentic cocaine to a drug trafficker in Jacksonville, who sold it for approximately $20,000, of which Hickox received about half.

Hickox’s father claimed that the pressure of working with the DEA, interacting with criminal informants daily, and being surrounded by significant amounts of cash and drugs played a role in his son’s descent into crime. He emphasized the need for the DEA to offer mental health support to adequately screen its personnel and avert similar breaches of public trust in the future.

“They have to lead double lives,” his father, James Lee Hickox, shared with WJXT television in Jacksonville. “You’re out dealing drugs for the DEA and then you return home to be a family man.”

At 38 years old, Hickox disclosed that he supplied around 550 pounds (250 kilograms) of marijuana to one informant, earning about $200 to $400 for each pound sold.

On another occasion, according to the plea agreement, he and Earrey orchestrated a phony traffic stop to seize what they believed were 6 kilograms (13 pounds) of fentanyl being transported from another state.

When authorities searched Hickox’s residence, they discovered cocaine, methamphetamine pills, and a powdery substance containing fentanyl, along with several firearms previously confiscated during law enforcement actions. The drugs were located in a converted garage dubbed “Gator’s Man Cave.”

Hickox also confessed in his plea agreement to frequently breaking into DEA evidence bags to pilfer thousands of dollars in cash, then resealing the bags or repackaging the bills into another heat-sealed bag with forged signatures to conceal his actions.

“Law enforcement officers who act as if they are above the law betray their badge and the citizens they promised to safeguard,” stated FBI Jacksonville Special Agent in Charge Kristin Rehler.

Hickox’s attorneys did not respond to an inquiry regarding comments.

Earrey is set to be sentenced in April.