Florida Woman Supervised Armed Drug Trafficking Ops & Laundered More Than $1.5 Million, Says DA

Cover photo for illustrative purposes only. Photo by Phillip Taylor | Flickr

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Middle District of Florida, a 28-year-old woman from Jacksonville Florida has been sentenced to 8 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute 50 kilograms or more of marijuana and conspiracy to commit money laundering in excess of $1 million.
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According to court documents, between October 2022 and her arrest in April 2024, Yaquasia Delcarmen served as a manager and supervisor of an armed drug trafficking organization (DTO), led by her boyfriend, Nathaniel Hatcher, III. The pair acquired bulk quantities of marijuana from various grow operations in northern California, where they used one of Hatcher's residences to weigh and package the marijuana for smuggling.

Following packaging, DTO members, including Delcarmen, smuggled the marijuana in suitcases and flew commercial back to Jacksonville. Once the marijuana arrived back in Jacksonville, Delcarmen and her co-conspirators distributed it from various short-term rental homes throughout Jacksonville, primarily in the Riverside and San Marco neighborhoods.

Delcarmen and other DTO members possessed and carried firearms at these residences to protect their drugs, their drug earnings, and themselves during sale hand-offs. Delcarmen specifically was responsible for collecting the drug money from the DTO's various dealers and laundering the proceeds back into bank accounts controlled by herself and Hatcher.

During the conspiracy, Delcarmen and others used sham business accounts that were formed for the sole purpose of laundring their illicit funds. Hatcher and Delcarmen spent the drug earnings on lavish lifestyle items including luxury vehicles and rental homes, and vacations to Miami, Hawaii, and California.

In her role in the DTO, Delcarmen reportedly trafficked between 100 and 400 kilograms of marijuana and laundered a minimum of $1.7 million in drug dollars.

After federal agents intercepted and arrested her boyfriend Hatcher in February 2024, Delcarmen continued to conduct the drug trafficking activities on his behalf while he sat behind bars. At Hatchers direction, Delcarmen coordinated additional drug sales and attempted to obstruct the federal investigation.

At Hatcher's direction, Delcarmen also posted the identity of a witness in the investigation publicly on social media with the intent of intimidating the witness and preventing their testimony.

After Delcarmen's arrest, she violated her bond conditions more than 1,000 times by maintaining both direct and indirect contact with her boyfriend Hatcher, who she had been ordered to have no contact with while on bond. Delcarmen was also ordered to forfeit the $1,760,210 earned during the DTO after pleading guilty to her crimes on June 27, 2024.

In the following court proceedings, Delcarmen's co-conspirators pled guilty to their involvement in the Hatcher DTO.

Desmond Maxwell pled guilty to straw-purchasing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and faces up to 25 years in federal prison. Al'Donta Easterling pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes, facing a minimum of 10 years up to life in federal prison. James Toney pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, a drive-by shooting contributing to a major drug offense, and the discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Toney faces a minimum of 15 years up to life in federal prison.

As for Nathaniel Hatcher, he has been charged by indictment and is scheduled to go on trial in 2025. An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty in the court of law.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service — Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Highway Patrol. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Aakash Singh and Kirwinn Mike.

Article by Rachael Volpe