Jackson, TN - Preston Antwan McNeal, 36, of Jackson, Tennessee, was found guilty on four counts of a seven-count indictment and sentenced to 35 years for trafficking methamphetamine. United States Attorney Kevin G. Ritz announced the sentence today.
According to U.S. Attorney Ritz and information presented in court, from 2016 to 2019, McNeal formed, and was the leader, of a large methamphetamine trafficking operation in West Tennessee. In 2017, as the Lexington Police Department conducted a traffic stop on McNeal’s vehicle, he threw a bag containing 44 grams of methamphetamine, 16 grams of cocaine, and one gram of crack cocaine into a nearby yard. A total of $1,281 in cash, a drug ledger, and a digital scale were found in the car.
In 2019, the Chester County Sheriff’s Department arrested McNeal at a traffic stop. The deputy searched the vehicle and found a baggie under the driver’s seat containing 14.3 grams of methamphetamine, plus $3,000 in cash in the front passenger floorboard. A total of 57.34 grams of methamphetamine was recovered. The passenger of the car testified at trial that McNeal gave her four baggies of methamphetamine to hide on her person. One of McNeal’s co-conspirators also testified that from late 2017 until February 2019, McNeal provided the witness with over 5 kilograms of methamphetamine for redistribution.
United States District Judge S. Thomas Anderson sentenced McNeal to 420 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case was investigated by the Lexington Police Department, the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
United States Attorney Kevin Ritz thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Adam Davis and Josh Morrow, who prosecuted this case for the government, as well as the law enforcement partners who investigated the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys