February 5, 2025
PRESS RELEASE:
(Escambia County, Florida) On February 5, 2025, Circuit Court Judge Linda Nobles sentenced Raymond Demarcus Durant to thirty years in state prison for Trafficking more than 28 grams of Fentanyl. Consistent with Florida’s drug trafficking statutes, twenty-five years of the thirty-year sentence is minimum mandatory, and he must also pay $500,000 in mandatory fines.
On the morning of February 2, 2024, a search warrant was executed on a residence and Durant was arrested inside the home. The house contained evidence of illegal drug dealing including scales, a money counting machine, and cash. Hidden in a charcoal grill behind the house were two bags of fentanyl totaling over 36 grams. Durant’s phone was seized and conversations regarding the sale and distribution of fentanyl were uncovered.
On February 5, 2025, an Escambia County jury found Durant guilty as charged.
At the sentencing hearing, prosecuting attorney, Christopher Patterson argued, “Fentanyl destroys communities through crime, disease, and addiction. Those who traffic in these drugs must be prosecuted vigorously.”
The arrest and investigation were conducted by the Escambia County Sherriff’s Office. Assistant State Attorney Christopher Patterson prosecuted the case on behalf of Ginger Bowden Madden, State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit of Florida. For more information, please contact Mr. Patterson at (850) 595-4200.
