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Cantonment Contractor Jesse Wayne LaCoste Sentenced To 30 Years
August 31, 2026
Embattled Cantonment contractor Jesse Wayne LaCoste was sentenced Monday morning to 30 years in state prison following his conviction last week on racketeering and organized fraud charges.
Chief Judge John Simon sentenced LaCoste to 30 years on each count—racketeering and organized fraud over $50,000—with the terms ordered to run concurrently.
A six-person jury deliberated for less than one hour Thursday before finding LaCoste guilty as charged under Florida’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and organized fraud. Jurors heard testimony that LaCoste used his company, LaCoste Construction Group, to defraud dozens of area homeowners out of $2 million between 2018 and 2022.
He was ordered to pay over $2.1 million in restitution.
Sentencing was delayed following the verdict so that victims could be present to speak at Monday morning’s hearing. Several victims provided testimony detailing how they paid LaCoste tens of thousands of dollars—and in some cases hundreds of thousands—for home rebuilds and repairs that were never completed or never started.
Both charges were first-degree felonies carrying a maximum of 30 years each, meaning LaCoste could have faced up to 60 years in prison if the judge had ordered the counts served consecutively.
LaCoste was previously sentenced in 2025 to 10 years in prison for grand theft and contractor fraud.
Comments
8 Responses to “Cantonment Contractor Jesse Wayne LaCoste Sentenced To 30 Years”
As much of a scumbag this guy clearly is and deserves whatever he gets, it never cease to amaze/amuse me how much our government (and sadly a lot of people) values money more than human life itself. Two fentanyl traffickers were recently sentenced to 5 years each in federal prison. That news article is literally two or three articles down from this one. Insanity. And there’s even more evidence of this considering a school employee who was convicted for trying to lure children (aka kidnapping) to commit SA on them was only sentenced to 3 years.
Well well well, you really did it this time…You stayed in trouble growing up but seemed like you were turning your life around…I cheered you on just like many others did. Am i happy that you will spend the next 40 years behind bars? No and yes.
No, I hate the fact you cant be trusted enough to work in a work release type setting and pay back all the money you stole from hard working people WHO TRUSTED YOU to just do the job you were paid to do.
Not only did you disgrace yourself but you disgraced your family name!
You and your bro in law gave every HONEST contractor in this area a black eye by the way you both ROBBED hard working people while yall lived a lavish lifestyle. I hope all that flashy living was full of great memories because you both will have to live in those moments as you both will grow old in prison…where you bothe belong.
Remember, YOU and YOUR actions alone put you where you now sit. The conspiracy theory that you and others are blaming this on is BULL MANURE!
I reckon yalls “advocates” are mad because they cant live on yalls ill gotten gains and will now have to join the workforce is why they are mad.
I pray for you because I know deep down inside you know how to be…how you are supposed to be. I pray you will look in the mirror and acknowledge whos to blame in this situation and take accountability for YOURSELF. Im really sorry you turned out this way, young man. You are in my prayers
I guess he didn’t swindle enough victims or ask for enough money. Otherwise, he would have been eligible for the I only “misappropriated” 10 million dollars defense?
I have a question/statement about sentencing and monitary restitutions. Why is it or shouldn’t it be that when someone defrauds people like this, that THEY should have to still do the work or pay a 3rd party to do it or do sometype of work to begin paying back all the money they took before serving actual time in jail or at the same time. He could be working in contruction during the day and sleeping in a cell at night? Make him work for the state or government building things each day. Work his ass off! Get these people their money back 1st! No one will ever see much if anything after any civil suits due to the number of people that was defrauded.
Looks like the judges are multiplying how many people were hurt by the crime when giving time. Mast of us have families to care for (like he stated he was doing) but we do not steal to do it.
Jesse should serve many years for his role in defrauding many of Escambia & Santa Rosa County citizens, I believe that wholeheartedly. That said, one of my dear friends buried her son after he was murdered at a bar in Pensacola a few years ago and his murderer received less prison time. I don’t know if Jesse should get less time, but I know for sure that murderers should get far more.
30 years. Not near enough time.
No doubt that this dude is not a good person by any stretch of the imagination, but when I think of the many stories with people literally killing other people and getting much much less time I have to scratch my head on sentencing guidelines.