PENSACOLA, Florida — A Pensacola man who kept fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine alongside three firearms in his bedroom has been sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida announced on Thursday, November 5, 2026.
Akeem Cornell Shaw, 39, of Pensacola, in Escambia County in Florida's Panhandle, received the 78-month sentence after previously pleading guilty to four federal offenses, U.S. Attorney John P. Heekin announced. The sentence closes a prosecution that began with a search of Shaw's home in February 2025.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Florida
The four offenses Shaw admitted
Shaw pleaded guilty to possession of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine with intent to distribute; possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense; possession of firearms by a convicted felon; and possession of a short-barreled rifle, according to the Justice Department. The four counts together cover both sides of the case prosecutors built against him: the drugs he is accused of preparing to sell, and the guns found with them.
What the February 2025 search found
Court documents reflect that law enforcement executed a search warrant at Shaw's Pensacola residence in February 2025. During a search of his bedroom, investigators located three firearms, one of them a short-barreled rifle, along with fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and ammunition, the Justice Department said. Investigators also recovered other items indicative of drug distribution, according to the court documents reported in the announcement.
The Justice Department's announcement did not specify the quantities of the drugs seized or identify the models of the firearms, and no supervised-release term was stated in the release. Those details were not announced, so they are not reported here.
Why the guns made this a federal case
Shaw has multiple prior felony convictions, the Justice Department said, and a person with a felony record cannot legally possess firearms or ammunition under federal law. That record turned the guns in his bedroom into a separate federal crime on top of the drug charges. A second firearms count accused him of possessing the guns in furtherance of drug trafficking — the charge federal prosecutors use when weapons are kept alongside drugs for sale. The short-barreled rifle brought a further count of its own: short-barreled rifles are a class of weapon specially regulated under the federal National Firearms Act, and possessing one outside that law's requirements is itself a federal offense.
"The Escambia County Sheriff's Office, with support from our federal law enforcement partners, continues to strike back against the armed criminals flooding our streets with drugs. As this defendant has learned, my office is committed to aggressively prosecuting drug-peddling criminals, and we'll continue to do so until we deliver the safe, drug-free communities that our citizens deserve." — statement in the Justice Department announcement, November 5, 2026.
Who investigated and prosecuted the case
The case was a joint investigation by the Escambia County Sheriff's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the federal agency that handles firearms trafficking and felon-in-possession cases. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica S. Etherton prosecuted the case for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida, one of the 94 federal prosecutor's offices across the United States.
Part of Project Safe Neighborhoods and Operation Take Back America
The prosecution was brought under Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the Justice Department's nationwide initiative that brings federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and prosecutors together to combat violent crime, coordinated through U.S. Attorneys' offices in each of the 94 federal districts. The Justice Department says PSN works on three principles: a rapid federal response to violent crime, strong partnerships among law enforcement at every level, and accountability through prosecution of the most serious, readily provable offenses. PSN is a key component of Operation Take Back America, and the department says its work complements the President's Homeland Security Task Forces.
Why it matters in Northwest Florida
For residents of Pensacola and Escambia County, the case is the latest in a run of federal prosecutions aimed at armed drug dealing in the Panhandle, where fentanyl — a synthetic opioid far more potent than heroin — has driven overdose deaths across Florida and the United States. Federal prosecutors say cases that combine distribution drugs with illegally held guns are a priority because that combination is what turns drug markets violent: the drugs bring in buyers and money, and the guns protect the trade. Shaw's sentence means a man prosecutors say was holding three drug types and three firearms in the same bedroom will spend the next six and a half years in a federal prison.
What happens next
The sentencing concludes the federal prosecution that grew out of the February 2025 search. Shaw's 78-month term is a federal sentence; the announcement did not name the sentencing judge, a supervised-release term, or the prison where he will serve the time, and the Bureau of Prisons makes final placement decisions in federal cases. Public court documents in the case are available through the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.