Two Ohio men will spend decades behind bars after a failed cocaine deal in Florida that followed a 17-hour drive from Cleveland.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge William F. Jung sentenced 42-year-old Virgil Cooper to 19 years and 7 months in federal prison and 49-year-old Angelo Jordan to 15 years and 8 months. A federal jury convicted both men on May 1, 2025, of conspiring to distribute and possess five kilograms or more of cocaine.
The plan started while Cooper was serving a prior felony sentence in a halfway house. He reconnected with a former federal prison cellmate—now deported to Colombia—and tried to buy cocaine directly from the source at a discount. Unbeknownst to him, that connection led to a confidential DEA source.
In February 2023, undercover officers in Tampa showed 10 kilograms of cocaine to Jordan, who had made the 17-hour drive from Ohio because Cooper couldn’t leave the halfway house.
After Cooper’s release, the pair returned to Tampa on August 3, 2023, with $120,000 in cash as a down payment for 30 kilograms of cocaine. Before the deal went through, authorities arrested them.
The investigation was a joint effort between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Tampa Police Department.
Leave a Reply