Federal Food and Drug Offense Sentences in the Middle District of Florida, FY2016–2025
All 25 people sentenced for food and drug offenses in the Middle District of Florida in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 pleaded guilty. 17 of them (68%) received probation only, and 6 (24%) received a prison term with a median of 12 months. Across all 94 federal districts, 32% were sent to prison.
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In brief: All 25 people sentenced for food and drug offenses in the Middle District of Florida in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 pleaded guilty. 17 of them (68%) received probation only, and 6 (24%) received a prison term with a median of 12 months. Across all 94 federal districts, 32% were sent to prison.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 25 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Every Case Ended in a Guilty Plea
The records show 25 guilty pleas out of 25 people and no convictions after a trial. That compares with 98% for the offense type in all 94 districts and 95% for all offenses in this district.
88% of the pleas included a written agreement with the government, and 8% were straight pleas. With no trial convictions, there is no trial median to set beside the plea median.
Probation Was More Common Than Prison
17 people (68%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. 6 people (24%) received a prison term. The share sent to prison was 32% across all 94 districts.
Among the 6 people sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 7.5 months or less. The median across all 94 districts was 17.3 months, and for all offenses in this district it was 57 months.
The prison group is only 6 people, so one sentence can shift these figures a great deal.
Fines, Restitution, and Supervised Release
Courts ordered fines for 9 people (36%) and restitution for 2 people (8%). Supervised release after prison applied to 6 people (24%), and the median term was 36 months.
No mandatory minimum applied to any of the 23 people whose records include that information.
How Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
For each case, the Commission's rules produce a guideline range. 16 sentences (67%) fell within that range. Another 2 (8%) were below it at the government's request, 5 (21%) were below it without a request, and 1 (4%) was above it.
Within-range sentences were 68% of the total across all 94 districts, and 47% for all offenses in this district.
Guidelines and Criminal History
"Food and Drug" is the U.S. Sentencing Commission's offense type for this group. The most common primary guideline was §2N2.1 (Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product), with 16 people. The other was §2N1.1 (Tampering or Attempting to Tamper Involving Risk of Death or Bodily Injury), with 7 people.
Criminal history was in the lowest category (Category I) for 96% of the people and in the highest (VI) for 0%. The 25 people are less than 1% of the 13,145 sentenced in this district.
Fiscal Year Counts
Counts were 11 people in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 14 people in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. Fiscal year 2016 had the most of any single year, with 8 people.
Medians appear in the table only for years with enough people sent to prison. The 31.5-month median for fiscal year 2025 and the 9-month median for fiscal year 2022 each come from very small groups, and they do not show a trend. Each fiscal year begins October 1 and ends September 30.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 8 | 12 months | 8 of 8 |
| 2017 | 2 | n/a | 2 of 2 |
| 2018 | 1 | 24 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2020 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2021 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2022 | 4 | 9 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2023 | 2 | n/a | 2 of 2 |
| 2024 | 2 | n/a | 2 of 2 |
| 2025 | 4 | 31.5 months | 4 of 4 |
Limits of These Numbers
The Commission's data leaves out anyone who was acquitted or whose case was dismissed. It also reports imposed prison terms rather than time served.
Jacksonville, MacDill AFB, and Mayport sit inside this district, but courts-martial for service members are held in military courts and are not part of these federal counts.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Middle District of Florida (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Florida Mid") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Food and Drug" (25). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Federal Sentences in the Middle District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Middle District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Middle District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Middle District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Middle District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.