A 29-year-old Columbus felon has pleaded guilty to federal drug and firearm charges after a 2024 police chase that started with a cellphone ping in the Hilltop and ended with a crash near the state fairgrounds, according to court documents. Jashon Tatum admitted to possessing fentanyl, crack cocaine, and a pistol fitted with an illegal machine gun conversion device, and told investigators he sold drugs partly to help cover legal fees from other criminal cases he was facing.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio, Columbus police first located Tatum on August 28, 2024, after tracking a cellphone ping to the area of Sullivant and South Wayne avenues in the Hilltop neighborhood, where officers had executed a search warrant, as detailed by NBC4 WCMH-TV. Officers spotted Tatum driving a Mercedes-Benz bearing the custom plate 2BLK4U. Police were tracking him because he had active felony warrants at the time, per the federal press release.
An Eight-Mile Chase Toward the Fairgrounds
Federal prosecutors said Tatum drove away toward Interstate 71 North and drove erratically, leading officers on an eight-mile chase that nearly caused several crashes, according to the station's report. He reportedly struck another car during the pursuit, and Columbus police deployed a helicopter to help track him from above. Tatum eventually exited near 11th Avenue by the state fairgrounds.
After crashing, Tatum attempted to run from the scene and threw items at pursuing officers as he fled on foot, the outlet reports. He was ultimately apprehended after SWAT team members from the Columbus Division of Police and task force officers with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives joined the pursuit, per the U.S. Attorney's Office. Investigators searching the scene recovered a pistol with an attached machine gun conversion device, a magazine loaded with ammunition, suspected fentanyl, suspected cocaine base, and suspected methamphetamine.
Charges Tied to a Prior Federal Sentence
Tatum was not formally indicted and arrested on the federal charges until July 2025, nearly 11 months after the chase, the U.S. Attorney's Office says. He was charged with possession of a machine gun, possession of ammunition as a felon, and possession of a controlled substance. He ultimately pleaded guilty to the federal charges, admitting he possessed fentanyl and crack cocaine, per the same account.
The case carries added weight because Tatum committed the August 2024 offenses while on federal supervised release stemming from a 2021 conviction, for which he had been sentenced to five years in prison and placed under a five-year term of supervised release, according to the Justice Department. He was granted early release from that prison term before the new offenses occurred. Court records also show Tatum was arrested in 2019 on drug and weapons charges, and he faced separate failure to comply charges earlier in 2024, with prosecutors dropping three counts of drug possession that year, per the station's reporting.
Tatum's legal history in central Ohio courts stretches back further still. He pleaded guilty to weapons charges in Common Pleas Court in 2016 and to escape charges in the same court in 2017, according to NBC4 WCMH-TV. In a more recent state case, the Delaware County Prosecutor's Office says Tatum was sentenced by the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas to 18 months in prison for failure to comply with a police officer's order and possession of cocaine.
Steep Penalties and a Flawed Claim About Fentanyl
The federal charges Tatum admitted to carry significant statutory penalties. Possessing a machine gun carries up to 10 years, possessing ammunition as a felon carries up to 15 years, and the drug possession charge carries as many as 40 years, according to federal sentencing guidelines cited by NBC4 WCMH-TV. Prosecutors say Tatum could face a maximum sentence of up to 65 years combined, though the court has not yet set a sentencing date.
During the case, Tatum reportedly told investigators he would cut fentanyl with sugar to make it less dangerous — a claim not supported by toxicology research. Forensic and addiction studies note that while drug sellers frequently mix bulking agents like sugars, lactose, and dextrose into illicit powders, informal mixing creates erratic “hot spots” of concentrated drug rather than making synthetic opioids safer, according to American Addiction Centers. Fentanyl can be fatal in doses as small as two milligrams, meaning uneven mixing can leave some doses far more lethal than others rather than diluted evenly across a batch.
Part of a Growing National Problem
The machine gun conversion device found in Tatum's vehicle, sometimes called a Glock switch or auto sear, is illegal to possess under federal law regardless of whether it is attached to a firearm, since 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b) classifies such devices as machine guns in their own right. Installing one on a handgun can allow it to fire up to 1,200 rounds per minute, discharging an entire magazine in less than three seconds, according to federal law enforcement warnings.
Recoveries of these devices have surged nationally in recent years. The ATF reported in January 2025 that federal recoveries of machine gun conversion devices jumped 784% between 2019 and 2023, with 5,816 devices recovered in 2023 alone. That national spike has prompted dedicated law enforcement task forces aimed at curbing the flow of the devices, a trend that frames the type of firearm charge now facing Tatum in Columbus.
