ANNISTON, Alabama — Logan Chase Turner, 28, has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for methamphetamine trafficking and firearms offences, in a case built by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and an east Alabama major-crimes unit, U.S. Attorney Phillip W. Williams Jr. for the Northern District of Alabama announced.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. District Judge Corey L. Maze imposed the 15-year term. Turner had pleaded guilty in June to four counts: conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The January search that anchored the case
According to the plea agreement described by prosecutors, ATF agents had been investigating Turner and his drug trafficking operation since December 2025. In January 2026, the 7th Judicial Major Crimes Unit obtained a search warrant for Turner's residence. Inside, officers seized drug paraphernalia, a Llama 1911 .45 calibre handgun, and more than 300 grams of methamphetamine.
A record that already barred him from guns
Turner was legally prohibited from possessing any firearm because of three prior felony convictions in the Circuit Court of Calhoun County. In March 2023 he was convicted of trafficking fentanyl and attempted assault, and in July 2024 he was convicted of promoting prison contraband — a record prosecutors placed at the centre of the federal case, which charged both the drug conspiracy and the gun offences together.
In April, Turner was charged as part of a Homeland Security Task Force investigation into a drug-trafficking organisation in east Alabama. A federal grand jury indicted 16 people in separate-but-related indictments; Turner, of Boaz, was charged alongside Mary Ann Alexander, 60, of Eastaboga, over alleged methamphetamine activity in Calhoun County in January 2026.
“This defendant's criminal history did not deter him from continuing to engage in serious criminal activity,” U.S. Attorney Williams said. “This 15-year sentence holds him accountable and reinforces our commitment to working with our law enforcement partners to target repeat offenders and dismantle drug-trafficking operations.”
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
ATF Special Agent in Charge James VanVliet said Turner, “a three-time convicted felon, demonstrated a pattern of criminal behavior by distributing dangerous drugs, illegally possessing a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and ultimately rendering our community vulnerable to harm,” adding that ATF would keep working with state and local partners “to disrupt offenders like these.”
The task-force background
The prosecution grew out of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” a whole-of-government programme aimed at criminal cartels, gangs, transnational organisations and smuggling and trafficking networks. In Alabama, the task force brings together the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, ATF, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Internal Revenue Service, with prosecutions led by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Alabama.
The Turner case itself was investigated by ATF together with the 7th Judicial Major Crimes Unit, the multi-agency unit serving the Calhoun County area, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison J. Garnett.
Why it matters in east Alabama
Methamphetamine cases tied to firearms, and to defendants who already carry fentanyl-trafficking convictions, are exactly the repeat-offender pattern federal prosecutors in the Northern District say the task force was built to break up. The April indictments alleged connected distribution activity across Anniston, Jacksonville, Munford and Eastaboga between June 2025 and March 2026 — the network within which, prosecutors said, Turner's January 2026 activity sat.
What happens next
Turner now serves the 15-year federal term imposed by Judge Maze. The other April indictments proceed on their own tracks; an indictment is only a charge, and defendants in those related cases who have not pleaded guilty or been convicted are presumed innocent. Awaaz Punjab will report further sentences from the east Alabama takedown as the U.S. Attorney's Office announces them.