Fayetteville Man Sentenced for Narcotics and Firearms Crimes

RALEIGH – United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that today in federal court, United States District Judge James C. Dever III sentenced ALLEN WENDELL MCNEIL, 36, of Fayetteville, North Carolina to 114 months imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release.

MCNEIL was named in an Indictment filed on November 7, 2018 charging him with Possession with Intent to Distribute a  Quantity of Marijuana, Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime and Possession of a Firearm by a Felon.  On February 5, 2019, MCNEIL pled guilty to those charges. 

On September 20, 2018 officers with the Fayetteville Police Department conducted a knock and talk at MCNEIL’S residence.  Law enforcement had received reliable information that MCNEIL was engaged in the distribution of narcotics.  When officers arrived at the home, MCNEIL was in an outbuilding that was furnished as an apartment with surveillance equipment.  Based upon a strong odor of marijuana the officers applied for a search warrant.  Upon execution of the search warrant officers found 174 grams of marijuana, a gram of cocaine, $4,400 in United States currency, drug paraphernalia and three firearms.  MCNEIL had previously been convicted of a felony which prohibited him from possessing firearms.  MCNEIL admitted to selling marijuana to supplement his income and admitted to having the firearm for protection. 

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.   Since 2017 the United States Department of Justice has reinvigorated the PSN program and has targeted violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

That effort has been implemented through the Take Back North Carolina Initiative of The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.  This initiative emphasizes the regional assignment of federal prosecutors to work with law enforcement and District Attorney’s Offices on a sustained basis in those communities to reduce the violent crime rate, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement.  For more information about this initiative click here:  https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/tbnc.

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Faytteville Police Department as well as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charity Wilson.