Press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A federal jury has found 20-year-old Lagarius Joseph Johnson from Gainesville guilty of possessing a machine gun while involved in a drug trafficking crime. The verdict was revealed by Michelle Spaven, the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

The trial evidence showed that officers from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office and the Gainesville Police Department were surveilling the Majestic Oaks apartments. Reports suggested that Johnson and others were carrying firearms, including a machine gun. Due to previous offences, Johnson was legally prohibited from holding a firearm. When the officers recognized Johnson and tried to approach him, he abruptly turned and gestured as though he had a gun concealed in his jacket, leading the officers to believe he was armed. Once the officers identified themselves as police, Johnson attempted to flee. The officers, with the help of a police dog, managed to capture him. During his escape attempt, Johnson discarded a cell phone, backpack, and pistol. The backpack was found to contain a distribution-level amount of marijuana, empty baggies, and a digital scale. The Glock pistol thrown away by Johnson was identified as having a machine gun conversion device, which made the pistol fully automatic. After obtaining search warrants, officers examined Johnson’s cell phone and social media accounts, discovering numerous images of Johnson with firearms, hefty cash sums, and he was also promoting marijuana sales, including on the arrest day.

Johnson had already been convicted at an earlier trial on April 16, 2025, in the United States District Court on charges of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a firearm by a controlled substance user, and possession of a machine gun.

Sentencing for each of the firearm and drug trafficking charges is scheduled for August 12, 2025, at 10:00 am. at the United States Courthouse in Gainesville before United States District Court Judge Allen C. Winsor.

Johnson also faces unrelated charges of attempted first-degree murder involving a machine gun in the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court in and for Alachua County, where he has entered a plea of not guilty and is presumed innocent. (Click here for Alachua Chronicle’s article on that incident.)

This conviction was the result of a joint investigation by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, the Gainesville Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Assistant United States Attorneys James A. McCain and Eric Welch prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America ( 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).