Alton Wayne Cope III of St. Augustine has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for his role in an illegal firearms trafficking operation involving a local real estate agent and a younger relative.
Cope, 64, received a sentence of four years and three months this week after pleading guilty in October 2024 to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and conspiring to deal firearms without a license.
The Department of Justice said Cope sold 11 firearms alongside a co-conspirator during the summer of 2024.
Investigators later identified the original source of the firearms as Braden Hobbs, a Ponte Vedra Beach real estate agent now facing federal gun and drug charges.
Federal court filings revealed that Cope and his 21-year-old relative, Jayden Cope, were working with Hobbs to illegally sell firearms.
Prosecutors described the three men as “co-conspirators [who] engaged in the conduct of dealing firearms without a license in the same conspiracy.”
“Cope was previously convicted of multiple felonies, including two counts of possession of cocaine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon,” federal prosecutors stated in a release. “Therefore, he is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law.”
The exact family relationship between the Copes is unclear in court documents.
The investigation began when authorities traced firearms recovered in drug raids back to Hobbs. Undercover agents later purchased guns from the Copes, who identified Hobbs as their supplier.
Hobbs allegedly purchased over 120 firearms from licensed dealers in Jacksonville between March 2022 and June 2024, intending to resell them unlawfully.
At least two guns sold by the Copes were previously reported stolen.
During a recorded transaction, Alton Cope told a confidential informant he had a contact “in the Nocatee area” who provided him with firearms. Agents found another gun in Cope’s bedroom during an August 2024 search.
Jayden Cope also pleaded guilty but was arrested again in January after police found a handgun and drug paraphernalia during a traffic stop. That case is pending.
Hobbs, who also faces charges for allegedly assaulting a corrections officer, remains in custody and could face up to 95 years in prison.
His trial is set for later this year.
