Staff report

ALACHUA, Fla. – Seventeen-year-old Charles Lavon Williams, Jr. has received a four-year prison sentence as an adult after deputies discovered a stolen firearm and 168 grams of marijuana in his room during a search.

Previously, in 2024, Williams completed a juvenile sentence and was released on November 26, 2024. A warrant to search his social media reportedly revealed photos of him holding multiple guns after being declared a juvenile delinquent.

On February 5, 2025, a search warrant was obtained for the home where he lives with his mother, and his bedroom was searched on February 6.

The search is said to have uncovered a stolen 9mm Taurus pistol with an extended magazine and a loaded Glock extended magazine, both allegedly appearing in Williams’s social media images.

A bag containing 167.99 grams of marijuana was reportedly found in his closet, along with a digital scale and a box of baggies, “indicating to this detective that [Williams] has been involved in narcotics since his release from his Juvenile Commitment Program.”

Williams was charged with possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent but was not charged with stealing the pistol because he was in custody when it was stolen. He was also charged with possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana.

On February 17, he was formally charged as an adult with both charges and transferred to the adult jail later that month. At the time of his adult arrest, he had one juvenile conviction and told court personnel that he was a student at Santa Fe High School; he was released on $100,000 bail in early March.

On May 19, Williams entered an open plea of nolo contendere to possession of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent, charges with a maximum sentence of 20 years. The next day, prosecutors asked Judge William Davis to take Williams into custody pending sentencing, but Judge Davis denied the motion and ordered an 8 p.m. curfew unless Williams was fulfilling work or school obligations.

Today, Judge Davis sentenced Williams to two concurrent sentences of four years in state prison, followed by three years of probation for the gun charge.