PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – A licensed real estate agent from Ponte Vedra Beach has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic firearms, making a materially false statement to a licensed firearms dealer, and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, including 500 grams or more of cocaine.
Braden Hobbs, 27, faces up to 15 years in federal prison for the conspiracy offense, up to 10 years’ imprisonment for the false statement offense, and a minimum of 5 years, up to 40 years, in federal prison for the drug offense. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.
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According to federal investigators, between March of 2022 and June of last year, Hobbs purchased more than 120 firearms from three different federally licensed gun dealers in Jacksonville, then illegally sold those guns on the street to drug dealers, drug traffickers, and convicted felons.
Federal authorities said there were multiple occasions on which Hobbs advertised firearms for sale to potential customers before he completed the purchase of the firearms from federally licensed gun dealers.
Federal investigators also said customers had paid Hobbs cash for the guns or traded drugs for the guns. According to investigators, Hobbs was aware that some of his customers intended to resell the weapons and were either drug users or drug dealers.
Hobbs did not act alone, investigators found.
According to the feds, Hobbs asked co-conspirators Alton Wayne Cope III and Jayden Lance Cope to assist him in finding buyers for the guns, and those co-conspirators advertised the firearms for sale.
Cellphone records later showed that Jayden Cope regularly purchased guns from Hobbs.
Hobbs is accused of making straw purchases at licensed gun stores. A straw purchase is when someone who is legally allowed to own a gun purchases the weapon for someone who is not legally allowed to own a firearm.
According to federal investigators, law enforcement started investigating Hobbs when several guns he had purchased were recovered during unrelated drug raids on homes suspected of being drug houses.
News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst Tom Hackney, who served as the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Director of Investigations and Homeland Security before his retirement, said this case highlights how straw purchases get guns on the street into the wrong hands.
“You have to imagine that of those 120-something guns that he’s accused of buying and selling, there’s got to be more. It’s so widespread when you think about the number of guns that are out there that there are probably murders associated with those guns, because, again, you’re putting them in the hands of the criminal element. What are they going to use them for? For their intended purposes,” Hackney said. “This really highlights that burglaries are not the only way guns find their way into the criminal element. It’s a criminal element that is supplying them, and this highlights the nexus between drugs, guns, and violence.”
In addition to being a suspected firearm trafficker, federal investigators said Hobbs was also trafficking illegal drugs.
Court records show that in June of last year, Hobbs was arrested by Jacksonville police for suspicion of driving under the influence.
It was during that traffic stop that officers discovered Hobbs had 330 grams of cocaine, 17 grams of Adderall, and paraphernalia associated with drug trafficking. According to court documents, the evidence found in his car led to multiple drug charges, including trafficking cocaine, which was the most serious felony charge.
Hobbs is a licensed real estate agent who worked out of a Ponte Vedra Beach office.