A jury needed only 13 minutes Thursday to find a man guilty of Trafficking in Fentanyl (more than 28 grams) after he drove from Fort Walton Beach to sell an ounce and a half of fentanyl to a Panama City Police Department confidential informant, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.
Mario Ardale Donaldson, 24, of Fort Walton Beach, was also found guilty of Unlawful use of a Two-Way Communications Device. Circuit Court Judge Dustin Stephenson ordered the 30-year sentence, which includes a minimum-mandatory 25 years and a $500,000 fine under Florida’s enhanced drug trafficking statutes.
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Prosecutor Christopher Walters called two Panama City Police Department Corporals who testified Donaldson agreed to the sale through a confidential informant March 11, 2025. The defendant was known as a fentanyl dealer, and told police he was “fronted” the drugs before driving to Panama City. That means he had to pay back his dealer once he made the sale.
But when he got back to Panama City and went to the designated spot for the transaction, he instead was detained by Panama City police.
During questioning at the Panama City Police Department, it was learned the defendant was carrying a large bag of fentanyl in his groin area. He retrieved it for police and admitted his participation in the day’s activities.
“This is a large amount of fentanyl and the Panama City Police Department did an excellent job of reacting to information it developed and making an arrest before it could hit the streets,” Walters said. “Fentanyl is so potent and unpredictable, and it is a plague on the community.”
The testimony and evidence proved that a confidential information told police he knew someone selling large amounts of fentanyl. He called the defendant, with police monitoring, and set up the deal.
Basford thanked the Panama City Police Department for its quick action in the case.
For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.