Fitzgerald Drug Distribution Network Dismantled

Source: United States Attorneys General

Headline: Fitzgerald Drug Distribution Network Dismantled

United States Attorney Charles E. Peeler announces sentences imposed on the defendants listed below January 30, 2018[1], by United States District Court Judge Leslie J. Abrams in Albany, Georgia.

• Deaundrea C. Peal, age 30 of Fitzgerald, Georgia was sentenced to serve 240 months in federal prison.  Peal was designated a Career Offender by the court based on his prior convictions for Possession of Cocaine with Intent to Distribute; Possessing Controlled Substances in School; Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute; and Possessing Marijuana; on September 25, 2005, in the Superior Court of Ben Hill County, Georgia in case number 05CR-176; and Sale of Cocaine; Possessing Controlled Substances Near Schools; Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute; Trafficking In Cocaine; Trafficking in Ecstasy; Possession of Tools for The Commission of Crime on June 14, 2007, in the Superior Court of Ben Hill County, Georgia in case number 06CR-228.
• Dwayne Peal, age 36 of Fitzgerald, Georgia was sentenced to serve 24 months on probation;
• Gwen Peal, age 58 of Fitzgerald, Georgia was sentenced to serve 60 months on probation;
• Marisela Mier, age 27 of Douglas, Georgia was sentenced to serve 48 months in federal prison
• Irvin Falcon, age 23 of Fitzgerald, Georgia was sentenced to serve 260 months in federal prison.  This sentence is to run consecutive to a sentence he is currently serving in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections for a prior conviction for Burglary in the First Degree, to end in October 2025;
• Rendell Townsend, age 28 of Fitzgerald, Georgia was sentenced to serve 36 months in federal prison.  His sentence was imposed on January 10, 2018.
• Eujenio Falcon has entered a plea of guilty in the case as well and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 13, 2018.

There is no parole in the federal system.

Each of the defendants plead guilty in this case. Deaundrea Peal, Marisela Mier, Irvin Falcon, Eujenio Falcon and Rendell Townsend plead guilty to possessing, distributing or conspiring to possess and distribute methamphetamine.  Dwayne Peal plead guilty to possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute.  Gwen Peal plead guilty to Misprision of Felony.

At their plea hearings, the Defendants admitted the following facts:

Defendant Irvin Falcon was in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) at Calhoun State Prison in Morgan, Calhoun County, Georgia and was using a contraband cellular telephone to direct the activities of others in this case.  In Spring 2017, investigators developed a confidential informant who could contact I. Falcon on this contraband phone and arrange to have methamphetamine delivered in the Fitzgerald, Georgia area.  Multiple purchases of ounce and multi-ounce quantities of methamphetamine were arranged through I. Falcon.  I. Falcon arranged for others to deliver the drugs for him including Deaundrea Peal, Marisela Mier, and Eujenio Falcon. Later, investigators arranged for the informant to introduce an undercover agent to Deaundrea Peal for the purpose of the undercover agent obtaining methamphetamine directly from Deaundrea Peal.  On one occasion, Deaundrea Peal arranged for Rendell Townsend to deliver the methamphetamine for him.

As a result of Deaundrea Peal’s sales of methamphetamine to the agent, search warrants were authorized for a residence Deaundrea Peal shared with his brother, Dwayne Peal, and for the residence of Gwen Peal, their mother.  At the residence shared by the brothers, agents located approximately 16 grams of marijuana in multiple balloon-covered suppository-shaped bindles in a container with sexual lubricant and a letter from an inmate addressed to Dwayne Peal.  At Gwen Peal’s residence agents located approximately twelve (12) ounces of methamphetamine inside two (2) cereal boxes in her refrigerator.  Gwen Peal later admitted that she failed to tell the agents everything she knew about the methamphetamine stored at her residence by Deaundrea Peal.

In total agents seized approximately 750 grams of methamphetamine and approximately 16 grams of marijuana as a result of this investigation.

United States Attorney Peeler stated: “This office, with the assistance of our partnering federal and state law enforcement agencies, will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those persons who choose to engage in the illicit distribution of narcotics such as methamphetamine and marijuana.  The sentences handed down in this case reflect our commitment to holding drug dealers accountable for their actions, whether they choose to sell their drugs directly on the streets of our neighborhoods, or in Irvin Falcon’s case, from the inside of a prison cell.”

Robert J. Murphy, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division commented on the pleas, “These guilty pleas are a direct result achieved only through the dedicated efforts of local, state and federal law enforcement and the subsequent prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The distribution of methamphetamine continues to ravage many communities and marijuana is a dangerous drug that poses a threat to its users who think it is a benign drug. Many communities are much safer because these individuals have been removed from the streets.”

“Criminal activity being carried out from behind the walls of our prisons will not be tolerated, and we are grateful to our State and Federal partners for their assistance in bringing this case to a close,” said GDC Commissioner Gregory C. Dozier.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Macon Office the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Sylvester Office and the Ben Hill County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Leah McEwen prosecuted the case for the United States.

Questions concerning this case should be directed to Pamela Lightsey, United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 621-2603.