A Jefferson City man has been charged with several drug and weapons felonies after an investigation by the Mustang Drug Task Force and two Drug Enforcement Administration offices - one in Jefferson City and the other in Illinois.
Brandon E. McNeese, 33, was arrested Monday after a controlled purchase of methamphetamine on Aug. 2 in Jefferson City conducted by a confidential informant working with the Mustang task force and the DEA's local office and Fairview Heights, Illinois office.
McNeese allegedly agreed to sell the informant approximately five ounces of meth for $2,000, according to a Jefferson City Police Department probable cause statement.
McNeese allegedly told the informant to meet at an apartment complex in the 200 block of West Ashley Street.
From there, McNeese was followed driving to a home in the 400 block of Hickory Street - the informant notified law enforcement while McNeese was away from the apartment that McNeese stated "he had to go get it."
At the home, McNeese was observed quickly entering and exiting and then opening the trunk of a white Mercury Cougar parked in the driveway to move items around in the trunk.
McNeese was then watched closing the trunk and driving back to the 200 block of West Ashley Street to allegedly complete the drug transaction.
When McNeese was taken into custody Monday and "interviewed roadside," the DEA and Mustang investigators conducted a "knock and talk" with the resident at the home in the 400 block of Hickory Street. The woman provided consent to search her home but said she could not provide consent to search the Cougar parked in the driveway because the car wasn't hers, adding that it belonged to McNeese.
While McNeese was being interviewed, the information about the car was passed on to investigators. Within his Miranda rights, McNeese denied the car belonged to him - though he also had the key on his person during his arrest.
A K9 unit was then requested to come sniff the Cougar. The JCPD K9 "Chopper" arrived and alerted law enforcement to the presence of controlled substances inside the car.
The vehicle was towed to JCPD and secured in the garage, where after a search warrant was granted, a search of the Cougar produced approximately 502 grams of cocaine in the trunk along with nine different handguns - including a Mac-10-style handgun "believed to be fully automatic" - and "an abundance of ammunition for the different caliber handguns."
McNeese has been charged with one count of delivery of a controlled substance, a class C felony; one count of second-degree trafficking, a class B felony; one count of unlawful use of a weapon, a class E felony; and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm, a class C felony.
However, because McNeese already is "a prior drug offender and a persistent drug offender" - with separate federal and state drug possession convictions in Illinois in 2010, according to his felony complaint - his potential imprisonment sentences for the delivery and trafficking charges could be treated as class A felonies, and he also could face extended prison terms for both of the weapons charges for the same reason.
His bond has been set at $250,000, cash only.