Juve Markie Lequan McAlpin, 24, of Asheville, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and three years of supervised release for possessing a firearm as a felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. The sentencing was announced by Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Alicia Jones, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, and Chief Michael Lamb of the Asheville Police Department joined U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making the announcement.
Court records indicate that McAlpin was previously convicted in federal court on August 4, 2022, for illegal firearm possession and served a prison sentence before being placed under federal supervision.
On April 24, 2024, while still under supervised release, McAlpin was arrested at a Shell gas station in Hendersonville. During his arrest, law enforcement searched the vehicle where he was a passenger and found a loaded Taurus model 65 .357 caliber revolver with its serial number removed on the passenger-side floorboard. Officers also recovered a black hoodie from the vehicle.
Further investigation revealed that McAlpin had worn this same hoodie on April 20, 2024. On that date, he fired two rounds into a moving vehicle at an apartment complex in Asheville; one passenger was struck in the leg and treated at a hospital for their injuries.
McAlpin remains in federal custody and will be transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons once assigned to a facility.
U.S. Attorney Ferguson expressed gratitude to both ATF agents and Asheville Police Department officers for their work on this case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Gast prosecuted the case out of Asheville.
The prosecution is part of Operation Take Back America—a nationwide initiative led by the Department of Justice aimed at combating illegal immigration and eliminating cartels as well as transnational criminal organizations through collaboration between Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
