MINNEAPOLIS – A Maplewood man was sentenced to 77 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for illegally possessing a firearm as a felon, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.
According to court documents, on October 12, 2021, Metro Transit Police Officers were dispatched to a report of a vehicle stuck on the light rail tracks in St. Paul. At the scene they found Deandre Lenier Neal-Hill, 35, unconscious in the driver’s seat of a maroon Chevrolet Malibu. The vehicle, with the engine still running, had a flat tire and was stuck in the tracks. Officers removed an unresponsive Neal-Hill from the vehicle and began preforming emergency medical aid until the paramedics arrived and took him to a hospital.
According to court documents, as officers extracted Neal-Hill from the vehicle, they observed a black handgun on the floorboard on the driver’s side of the vehicle, which was later determined to be an FNH USA model 503 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Neal-Hill’s pistol was loaded with one round in the chamber and seven bullets in the inserted magazine. Neal-Hill was also in possession of marijuana, methamphetamine, and oxycodone pills.
Neal-Hill has prior felony convictions, including convictions of drive-by shooting, assault, and drug sale, therefore he is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition at any time.
Neal-Hill was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge Wilhelmina Wright. Neal-Hill pleaded guilty to one count of illegal possession of a firearm as a felon.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the ATF, the FBI, the St. Paul Police Department, and the Metro Transit Police Department.
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Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew S. Ebert and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez prosecuted the case.