MOBILE, AL – A Grand Bay man was sentenced to a total of 145 months in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.
According to court documents, Robert Orrin Draughon, Jr., 31, was arrested in May 2021 after leading sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed chase in Grand Bay. Deputies ended the chase by boxing Draughon’s truck in behind a gas station. Deputies then searched Draughon’s truck and the immediate area, recovering Draughon’s identification, more than $1,600 in cash, a loaded Ruger pistol, and a water cooler containing more than 160 grams of 99.6% pure methamphetamine. In connection with his guilty plea, Draughon admitted that he knowingly possessed the methamphetamine and the pistol. Data extracted from Draughon’s cell phone included text messages that he exchanged with others about drug distribution in the Mobile area.
In 2018, Draughon was convicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama of being a felon in illegal possession of a firearm. Draughon was on federal supervised release at the time of his arrest in May 2021.
United States District Judge Kristi K. DuBose imposed a sentence of 121 months in prison, to run consecutively to a 24-month custody sentence for Draughon’s supervised-release violation, for a total sentence of 145 months. The court ordered Draughon to serve a five-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge DuBose ordered Draughon to pay $100 in special assessments.
U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sinan Kalayoglu and Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.