Brian Keith Speights, Escape from Halfway House, Florida 2025

Brian Keith Speights, a convicted drug dealer from Jacksonville, has pleaded guilty to escaping from a federal halfway house in the city. Speights, 68, was arrested on January 20, 2025, in Jacksonville and has been in federal custody since then. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 19, 2025.

According to court documents, Speights was initially sentenced to 90 months in federal prison in 2019 for using his Jacksonville residence to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine, and for possessing several firearms in furtherance of illegal drug trafficking.

In May 2024, Speights was transferred to the Bridges Reintegration Center, a halfway house in Jacksonville, as part of his application, which he signed on May 7, 2024. He acknowledged that he remained in the custody of the Attorney General of the United States and that his failure to remain within the limits of his confinement at Bridges would be deemed as an escape.

However, on January 2, 2025, Speights knowingly and willfully escaped by leaving the Bridges Reintegration Center without authorization and failing to return. He was eventually located at a residence in Jacksonville and arrested by deputies from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on January 20, 2025.

This case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that aims to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect communities from violent crime.

Speights is facing up to five years in prison at sentencing. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 19, 2025. The defendant's full name is Brian Keith Speights, and he is a resident of Jacksonville, Florida. The exact criminal charges against him are escape from federal custody at a halfway house.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/jacksonville-convicted-drug-dealer-pleads-guilty-escaping-halfway-house