Trafficker thought guns and cash were a down payment for cocaine in Gulfport

A gun trafficker drove to Gulfport to help trade $15,000 and high-caliber firearms as a down payment for 15 kilos of cocaine.

He and three other men had come to Gulfport in two vehicles, with the money in one car and firearms in the other, a plea agreement filed in federal court shows.

One of the men showed the firearms to the supposed cocaine supplier in the parking lot of Red Roof Inn hotel on U.S. 49 on Sept. 23, 2017.

Damien S. Pinckney, 36, of Goose Creek, South Carolina, had supplied the firearms, provided part of the money for the down payment and rented the car that carried the firearms, according to his confession.

The firearms were a .50-caliber rifle with two magazines, a multi-caliber rifle with two 30-round magazines — and another multi-caliber rifle.

Court papers show DEA agents had called in Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents because the plan for the drug deal involved weapons.

The men quickly learned there was no cocaine for sale. It was a bogus deal set up by federal agents and two confidential informants in discussions of purchasing up to 50 kilos of cocaine in Gulfport for transport to South Carolina.

Agents arrested Horace M. Rutledge Jr., who arranged the swap, at the rental car. They found Pinckney and two other men in the hotel.

Investigation showed Pinckney had helped come up with the down-payment money on the cocaine — which supposedly was selling for $25,000 per kilo — and he obtained the firearms. He got one of the rifles from a man who owed him money for heroin, his plea agreement said.

It was actually the second down payment for the cocaine.

Rutledge, 44, of Atlanta, had first come to Gulfport with $27,500 on Aug. 27, 2017, for the first down payment on the cocaine, a news release said.

Pinckney and Rutledge were indicted in the same charging document.

Pinckney on Tuesday pleaded guilty instead to a charge filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, possession of firearms by a felon.

U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden sentenced Pinckney to 10 years in prison, followed by three years of probation, and fined him $8,000.

Pinckney had been convicted on drug-trafficking charges in South Carolina: Possession with intent to distribute cocaine while under the age of 21, possession with intent to distribute cocaine near a school, and possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine or meth, documents show.

Rutledge, also a felon, pleaded guilty to a firearm violation on May 17. He has been convicted on second-degree assault, felony resisting arrest, possession of a firearm and sale of a firearm as a second offender from Nassau County, New York.

Rutledge will be sentenced Sept. 5. He also faces a 10-year prison term.

The other two men who traveled with them to Gulfport were not indicted.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Annette Williams prosecuted the case.