Pensacola man indicted on charges of interstate drug trafficking and money laundering involving hundreds of thousands of dollars

Date: August 26, 2025

Contact: [email protected]

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA - Jovon "Playa Pat" Booker of Pensacola, Florida, has been indicted in federal court on charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering through high-end jewelry purchases, and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida announced the charges.

Booker is scheduled for arraignment before United States Magistrate Judge Hope Thai Cannon at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola, Florida, on August 28, 2025, at 11:00 a.m.

If convicted, Booker faces up to life imprisonment on the charges in the Indictment.

The case is being jointly investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Escambia County Sheriff's Office, and the Pensacola Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David L. Goldberg and Jessica S. Etherton.

An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline ) a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation's principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney's Office, Northern District of Florida, visit https://http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.