A Mobile County man was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison on July 31 after he was found with a loaded handgun and a large quantity of drugs during a traffic stop, despite being legally barred from possessing firearms because of prior felony convictions.
U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose handed down the sentence for Ralpheal Rashod Bridges, according to court documents. The case began on July 28, 2025, when a Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigator observed Bridges engaging in what appeared to be a drug transaction from his vehicle in the parking lot of a Waffle House in Mobile. A deputy then conducted a traffic stop after observing a separate traffic violation.
During the stop, law enforcement searched the vehicle and found approximately $3,000 in cash, about 420 grams of marijuana, two suspected pressed fentanyl pills, and a substantial quantity of oxycodone pills — 19 pills at 30 milligrams, 61 pills at 20 milligrams and 191 pills at 10 milligrams — along with two digital scales and a loaded Glock Model 19 9mm handgun, according to court records.
Federal law prohibited Bridges from possessing a firearm because of prior felony convictions, which include multiple counts of marijuana possession and promoting prison contraband.
U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama announced the sentence. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney George F. May prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
The prosecution was brought as part of Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative that combines resources from Homeland Security Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods to target violent crime, drug trafficking and transnational criminal organizations. Federal prosecutors have increasingly paired drug trafficking charges with felon-in-possession firearm charges in an effort to secure longer sentences for repeat offenders found carrying weapons alongside illegal narcotics.