{"id":350877,"date":"2026-07-24T08:09:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T08:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/350877\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T08:09:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T08:09:35","slug":"more-than-220-pounds-of-marijuana-seized-in-florida-man-faces-federal-charges-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/350877\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 220 pounds of marijuana seized in Florida, man faces federal charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PENSACOLA, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A man accused of possessing more than 220 pounds of marijuana in Florida is now facing a federal drug charge.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Justice%20Department\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">U.S. Department of Justice <\/a>(DOJ) announced on Wednesday that James Craig, 46, of Mokena, Illinois, was indicted on one count of possession with intent to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>The charge stems from allegations that Craig was found with more than 100 kilograms, or about 220 pounds, of marijuana in Florida, according to the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office for the Northern District of Florida.<\/p>\n<p>Craig has already made his first appearance in federal court in <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/pensacola%2C%20florida\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pensacola<\/a>, where he was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Zachary Bolitho. His case is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 8 before U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers. If convicted, Craig could face anywhere from five to 40 years in federal prison.<\/p>\n<p>The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case with assistance from the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alicia H. Forbes is prosecuting the case.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/florida-true-crime-manhunt-widens-as-us-marshals-boost-reward-to-16k-for-florida-murder-suspect-on-the-run-walton-county-sheriffs-office-south-florida-news-man-found-in-shallow-grave-multiple-arrests-georgia-alabama-jason-christopher-coulthart-freeport\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Manhunt widens as US Marshals boost reward to $16K for Florida murder suspect on the run<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Federal officials did not provide additional details about where the marijuana was seized or the circumstances that led to Craig&#8217;s arrest.<\/p>\n<p>The case is part of<a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Operation%20Take%20Back%20America\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Operation Take Back America<\/a>, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative aimed at targeting drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal groups and violent crime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PENSACOLA, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A man accused of possessing more than 220 pounds of marijuana in Florida is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-350877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}