A former pharmacist who was arrested in 2023 after he was found with a cache of explosives, firearms and ammunition was sentenced to prison after pleading no contest to the charges.
William Head III was adjudicated guilty on March 24 of illegal use of firearms, violation of a domestic violence injunction, possession of a controlled substance and carrying a concealed firearm. He entered a no-contest plea in December.
Leon Circuit Judge Stephen Everett sentenced him to two years in prison followed by three years of probation. Head was given 467 days of jail credit, which means he will serve nearly nine additional months behind bars.
Everett also ordered Head to spend the first six months of his release in a halfway house, attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings once a week and provide proof of job applications five times a month until he find a job. Everett also ordered him to have no weapons, explosives or ammo.
Head, a former pharmacist at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, was arrested after citizens contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to report his large cache of weapons and comments he had made about the world coming to an end.
After agreeing to meet with deputies from Leon and Jefferson counties, a search of his vehicle uncovered 25 handguns and rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, two bulletproof vests, explosive materials, a straw with a white powdery substance and a variety of pills.
Investigators found more drugs in a Tallahassee hotel room where he had been staying. At his house in Jefferson County, they found 10 to 15 bags of binary explosives, which consist of two ingredients that aren’t dangerous until combined together, and two containers of mixed binary explosives.
Head was a pharmacist at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, though he separated from the hospital several months before his arrest. His pharmacist license, issued in 2011, was revoked in November 2023.
One of Head’s family members wrote the court ahead of sentencing to ask for mercy, saying he was in drug recovery and has “a strong chance of remaining sober.” She also said he served as president of his group home “over a long period of time” and was not a threat to himself or other people.
Others, however, asked the court to give him a longer sentence, saying they didn’t feel the time he has served so far was sufficient to ensure the safety of themselves or their loved ones.
One man wrote that Head stalked his daughter, violently kicked in her door one night and showed up another time at her house around 1 a.m. with a gun in his hand. He said his daughter and her son live in “constant fear” because of Head.
“Your honor, with all due respect, I ask that you consider the fear, trauma and lasting harm my family has endured,” he wrote. “I ask, for the sake of my daughter, my grandson and this community that Mr. Head be given the maximum sentence allowed by law, so that no other family has to live the nightmare he has brought upon ours.”
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Former pharmacist sentenced to prison on explosives and firearms charges
Reporting by Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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