Advertisement

Bob's Carpet and Flooring heir paid hundreds of thousands dollars for drugs, federal court records show

 
Robert Butler III has signed an agreement to plead guilty in federal court, records show, admitting he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for drugs in recent years. [Photo courtesy St. Petersburg Police Department/McAllister family]
Robert Butler III has signed an agreement to plead guilty in federal court, records show, admitting he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for drugs in recent years. [Photo courtesy St. Petersburg Police Department/McAllister family]
Published Sept. 21, 2018

Robert Butler III, an heir to a well-known local flooring chain that bears his father's name, participated in a money laundering scheme and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for cocaine and marijuana in recent years, according to federal court records filed Thursday.

He usually bought his drugs with checks, the records show, writing out some to girlfriends of his dealer, 35-year-old Deonte Baker, in a system prosecutors said was meant "to conceal and to disguise" the nature of the transactions.

Butler, 52, whose father built up Bob's Carpet and Flooring on Florida's west coast, has agreed to plead guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He bought drugs from Baker from March 2013 to April 2016, according to the plea agreement. He spent $194,150 in that period. In June 2016, the plea agreement says, Butler began writing checks to the girlfriends, eventually totalling $140,490.

The charge could bring a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, but Butler has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, who are expected to recommend an easier sentence.

Baker, the accused dealer, also faces federal drug charges.

The case spilled into public in December 2017 when Butler, Baker and another man, Quran Archer, 26, were linked to the death of a 22-year-old woman, Taylor Ann McAllister, whose body was found a year earlier in a St. Petersburg alley. Police said Butler had called Baker and Archer to his Palm Harbor home to pick up the young mother of two when she was sick. In the car, the two men realized she was unconscious, according to authorities, but they left her body around 63rd Avenue S after Butler told them not to bring McAllister back to his house.

All three face charges of failure to report a death in state court.

ORIGINAL STORY: St. Petersburg police arrest Bob's Carpet and Flooring heir, several others, in death of 22-year-old woman found in alley

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Bob's Carpet and Flooring heir was source of family strife before arrest

McAllister's parents have filed a civil suit against Butler, saying he did not call for medical help before she died. They have said their daughter was living with him, and that he provided her with drugs and money.

RELATED: Family files lawsuit against Bob's Carpet and Flooring heir in 22-year-old woman's death

Butler also faces state charges of marijuana possession and being a felon in possession of ammunition.

Court records show he has received money from a family trust, but leaders at the flooring business say he has not been involved in operations there for years.

Contact Zachary T. Sampson at zsampson@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8804. Follow @ZackSampson.