JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A federal weapons investigation into a complicated web of crime involving drugs, guns, and sex represents a broken oath by someone sworn to protect it, according to court records.
Tomislav David Golik, a former criminal defense attorney and Duval County public defender, pleaded guilty in December 2015 to federal weapons charges. Court records obtained by First Coast News, say Golik traded his personal firearms to convicted felons in exchange for cocaine.
According to court records, a sex trafficker, Shaquana Brookins, hired Golik to represent women she was selling for sex who were arrested. His payment? Cocaine.
“Drug dealing is a dangerous business, especially in Jacksonville. After their interactions with Mr. Golik, they were armed,” said Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives agent Mark Mutz. “These firearms range from the small-caliber pistol to shotguns and into several different types of rifles.“
Golik was a licensed firearm dealer and authorized to possess national firearm automatic weapons. According to court records, Golik describes himself as having a drug problem. Getting high cost him more than just what was in his wallet.
“Mr. Golik is an individual who had a severe drug problem and would trade these firearms to support his drug habit and he would later retrieve the firearms on his own,” Mutz said.
As his drug problem became more severe, he became unable to retrieve his firearms. Golik and his attorney brokered a deal with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and ATF. Court records say he became a confidential informant for ATF in May of 2015. Part of the deal included staying sober and telling ATF about guns he placed on the streets of Jacksonville
“After he approached ATF and we worked together to try and recover these firearms, Mr. Golik continued his illegal activities and behaviors,” Mutz said.
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According to a search warrant obtained by First Coast News, Golik didn’t stay clean and didn’t tell ATF about every gun he had traded, including one gun that turned up at a BP gas station on Philips Highway during a traffic stop.
“We thought we had a good grasp on the firearms on Mr. Golik introduced into the community only to find out that this firearm and others later on,” Mutz said. “It took us off guard and at that point we realized the scope and magnitude of what Mr. Golik had done.“
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office pulled over a stolen vehicle, where ATF officials say, Golik’s drug dealer, Lamar Ivory, was riding. Inside the vehicle was a gun registered to Golik. The gun was not reported stolen.
“He was trading some very expensive firearms for very small quantities to feed his addiction,” says ATF Jacksonville Resident-Agent-In-Charge Eric Fox.
In courtroom testimony, obtained by First Coast News, Golik describes his drug problem as “once the civilized or the tamed wild animal tastes blood, it’s a wild animal again.”
Golik’s addiction proved to be his downfall.
In July 2015, ATF obtained a search warrant for Golik’s blood and urine after finding probable cause that Golik was still getting high while possessing guns.
In December 2015, Golik pleaded guilty to federal weapon charges. Golik is currently serving an 18-month sentence in a federal prison in South Carolina but he is expected to be released in July. First Coast News mailed multiple letters to Golik at the federal prison but received no response. His lawyer declined to comment.
“The hardest part is not knowing who the defendants were. At the beginning, we were sort of at the mercy of Mr. Golik to tell us and direct us because only he knew who had the firearms,” says Mutz.
Lawyers for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida wouldn’t comment on this case.
Golik’s law license is suspended for three years and he would have to meet certain requirements before he can practice law in the state of Florida again. A-T-F says the case remains open. A-T-F couldn’t discuss the charges against Brookins. We reached out to several of the individuals arrested in this case. Only one agreed to talk but the prison wouldn’t allow our cameras in.
Fox says Golik’s desperation created a danger for everyone on the First Coast.
“This case…it touches everyone in Jax and I feel strongly about that. Young woman are being taken advantage of and coerced into prostitution. The individuals that are preying on these ladies and controlling them with drugs are also controlling them with these firearms. And they are using these firearms to control their turf and assert their power in a criminal fashion.”