Bradenton man sentenced to nearly 20 years after meth and fentanyl arrest
A Bradenton man will spend nearly two decades in prison after deputies caught him with methamphetamine and fentanyl during a foot chase, prosecutors said.
A Manatee County jury found 33-year-old Jason Kelly Vanaelst guilty of trafficking meth, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of fentanyl and resisting an officer without violence, according to court records.
Following the trial, Circuit Judge Matt Whyte sentenced Vanaelst to nine years in prison for violating probation and another 10 years for the meth charge, with both sentences to run consecutively. He is also scheduled to serve five years of drug offender probation after his release.
Under Florida law, the minimum mandatory sentence for trafficking in 14 to 28 grams of meth is three years in prison.
Vanaelst filed a notice of appeal following his conviction and sentencing, according to court records.
Deputies with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said Vanaelst ran from them in August 2024 as they tried to arrest him on outstanding felony warrants for probation violations. The chase began outside a house in the 5700 block of East Bradenton, where he jumped a fence and ran through a backyard before a K-9 helped bring him down, according to an arrest report.
After the arrest, deputies said they found a baggie of suspected meth lying on the ground next to him. Deputies say they also found a black case clipped to his belt loop containing another baggie of meth and a glass pipe. The total weight of the meth was approximately 20.6 grams, the report says.
At the time of the August 2024 arrest, Vanaelst was on probation for a 2022 felony case in which he fled the scene of a two-vehicle crash in a stolen SUV, according to an arrest report. The crash sent another driver to the hospital with a broken hand, and deputies found meth in Vanaelst’s pants pocket and cocaine in his wallet, the report says.
He pleaded no contest to meth possession and a reduced misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene with property damage and was sentenced to 24 months of probation, according to court records.
Court records show Vanaelst has faced a series of felony arrests in Manatee County since 2011, including allegations of aggravated assault, armed robbery, domestic battery by strangulation and firearm possession. Many of those charges were dropped or reduced in plea agreements. He was convicted of aggravated assault in 2012 and later served a federal prison sentence for drug and firearms offenses after pleading guilty in a 2013 case in federal court.
“This was a defendant who has previously been convicted of offenses involving drugs, firearms and violence, both in federal and in state court,” Assistant State Attorney Tanner Woods said in a statement. “I would like to thank the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office for their diligent work in bringing this dangerous individual to justice.”
