The Defendant Trafficked Methamphetamine While on Probation for State Criminal Charges
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray announced today that Matthew Dean Lail, 35, of Valdese, N.C., was sentenced to 168 months in prison and five years of supervised release on federal drug charges. U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. presided over the sentencing.
According to information in filed court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, in June 2018, Lail was on supervised release on state criminal charges. On June 28, 2018, a probation officer with the North Carolina Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice, accompanied by a deputy with the Burke County Sheriff’s Office, arrested Lail at his residence in Valdese, on outstanding warrants for probation violations. Law enforcement conducted a subsequent search of the residence and recovered more than 110 grams of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, a firearm and ammunition, and $426 in drug proceeds.
On Oct. 28, 2019, Lail pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Lail is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.
In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney Murray thanked U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the North Carolina Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice and the Burke County Sheriff’s Office for their coordination and partnerships throughout the investigation and prosecution of this case.
Assistant United States Attorney John Pritchard, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville, prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
