Source: Office of United States Attorneys
MOBILE, AL –A Mobile man involved in Darrin Southall’s drug trafficking organization was sentenced in federal court on January 29, 2025. Nathaniel Hines, 41, pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine in August of 2021.
According to court documents, Hines was one of Southall’s distributors who was listed in Southall’s drug ledgers. During the investigation, telephone calls between Hines and Southall were intercepted by federal investigators. Hines and Southall used coded language to attempt to disguise the criminal nature of their calls and conceal their drug trafficking activities from detection. Hines received multiple kilograms of cocaine for further distribution in Mobile, which was documented by the phone calls and the information uncovered during an analysis of the cell phones seized following the arrests in the case. Federal and state investigators arrested Southall and numerous members of his organization during 2021 and 2022. Approximately 30 members of Southall’s organization have been prosecuted in federal court to date.
United States District Court Judge Kristi K. Dubose imposed a sentence of 75 months’ imprisonment in Hines’ case. The judge further ordered that Hines would also serve five years on supervised release following his release from imprisonment. As conditions of his supervision, Hines will also undergo testing and treatment for drug and/or alcohol abuse, and he will be subject to a search of his person and premises upon reasonable suspicion. The judge also ordered that Hines pay $100 in special assessments. Any interest Hines had in a long list of seized property was ordered forfeited to the United States.
The case was investigated by the Mobile Police Department, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Saraland Police Department, the St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, Sheriff’s Office, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gloria Bedwell prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.