A federal grand jury has indicted Albert McCreary, 55, a code enforcement officer for the city of Prichard, on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. McCreary, of Daphne, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. A federal magistrate judge ordered him held without bond after prosecutors argued he presents both a flight risk and a danger to the public. Jury selection in the case is scheduled for Sept. 28.
The indictment follows McCreary’s arrest in late July after a traffic stop that investigators say was connected to a separate rape investigation. He has not been charged in that matter. The firearms case centers on a handgun found in his vehicle and a decades-old felony conviction that, under federal law, bars him from legally possessing a gun.
What a Federal Grand Jury Indictment Means
A federal grand jury indictment is a formal, written accusation that a person committed a federal crime. It is issued by a panel of citizens who review evidence presented by federal prosecutors, without the defendant or defense attorney present, to decide whether there is probable cause to bring the case to trial. An indictment is not a finding of guilt; it simply allows a criminal case to proceed. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until the government proves its case beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, or the defendant enters a guilty plea. Once a grand jury returns an indictment, the case moves toward arraignment, where the defendant is formally notified of the charges and enters a plea, followed by pretrial proceedings and, absent a plea agreement, a jury trial.
The Charge and What Comes Next
McCreary is charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, a federal offense that applies to anyone who has been convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in prison and is later found with a gun or ammunition. Prosecutors have said that if McCreary is convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison, reflecting sentencing provisions that apply to certain repeat or violent offenders. A magistrate judge’s decision to hold a defendant without bond, sometimes called pretrial detention, is separate from the question of guilt; it is based on a judge’s assessment of whether the person is likely to flee or poses a danger to the community while the case is pending. Jury selection is set for Sept. 28, after which the case would proceed to trial unless resolved beforehand through a plea agreement or other pretrial disposition.
How the Case Began
According to a federal criminal complaint and supporting affidavit, investigators had obtained a state search warrant for McCreary’s Chevrolet Tahoe in connection with a reported rape in Mobile County. The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Unit stopped the vehicle for a traffic violation, and the complaint states that McCreary, who was driving, made what officers described as furtive movements near the center console. McCreary acknowledged having a firearm and told the officer he had recently been at a shooting range training in connection with his role as a Mobile County constable, an elected position that the affidavit notes carries no law enforcement powers or duties. Deputies seized a Glock Model 23 .40-caliber pistol from the vehicle.
Prior Felony Conviction
Investigators determined that McCreary has a felony conviction from Florida’s Escambia County, where court records show he was convicted in 2009 of battery and domestic battery by strangulation. According to the affidavit, McCreary told investigators he believed he was legally permitted to carry a firearm because his conviction had been expunged. Investigators said they checked with Florida’s Office of Executive Clemency and found no record that his civil rights, including the right to possess a firearm, had been restored. The affidavit also states that McCreary denied recent contact with the woman who reported the rape, but that the broader investigation indicated otherwise.
Employment and City Response
Records from the Mobile County Personnel Board show McCreary has worked as a code enforcement officer for the city of Prichard since September 2023. A spokeswoman for the city referred inquiries about the case to the FBI and did not respond to questions about McCreary’s current job status or how he was hired despite his criminal record.
Separate Civil Proceeding
McCreary also faces a separate civil action in Mobile County, where the district attorney’s office has filed a petition seeking his removal from his elected post as a Precinct 31 constable, citing his felony conviction and a residency dispute. That civil matter is distinct from the federal criminal case and is proceeding on its own track through the county court system, though both involve the same underlying felony conviction.
The federal case against McCreary sits at the intersection of several distinct legal systems, and understanding how they fit together is part of what makes the prosecution unusual. The federal felon-in-possession charge is built on a Florida state-court conviction from 2009, and the question of whether McCreary’s civil rights — including the right to possess a firearm — were ever restored is the central issue in the federal case. Florida’s process for restoring those rights is administered through the state’s Office of Executive Clemency, a four-member panel that includes the governor and three cabinet members. The clemency process is famously slow and, by design, places the burden on the applicant to demonstrate that restoration is appropriate. Investigators in the federal case say they checked with the clemency office and found no record that McCreary’s rights had been restored, which is what federal law generally requires for a person whose civil rights have not been formally restored to lawfully possess a firearm.
The 15-year mandatory minimum that prosecutors have referenced reflects the Armed Career Criminal Act, a federal sentencing enhancement that applies when a defendant has three or more prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses, or when a single prior conviction qualifies as a “violent felony” under the statute. The Act has been the subject of significant litigation over the years, including several rounds of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and the way courts define the qualifying offenses has shifted over time. The battery and domestic battery by strangulation convictions that investigators say are in McCreary’s background may or may not meet the current federal definition of a violent felony, and that question is likely to be a major point of litigation as the case moves toward trial. If a judge determines that one or more of those convictions does qualify, the sentencing range the prosecution described would be available; if not, the federal sentencing guidelines would apply without the mandatory minimum.
The federal case is also separate from, but related to, the civil action pending in Mobile County. State law generally does not allow a person with a felony conviction to hold an elected office such as constable, and the Mobile County District Attorney’s office has filed a petition seeking McCreary’s removal from his Precinct 31 constable post on those grounds. Constables in Alabama are constitutionally established positions elected by the voters of each precinct, but the office is generally limited in scope and does not carry the law enforcement powers that sheriffs and municipal police officers hold. The civil removal proceeding will turn on its own facts, but the underlying issue is the same felony conviction that gives rise to the federal firearms charge.
The Mobile County Personnel Board records showing that McCreary has been employed as a code enforcement officer for the city of Prichard since September 2023 raise their own set of questions. Code enforcement is a civilian role focused on property maintenance, nuisance abatement, and zoning compliance, and the typical hiring process for such positions includes a background check. The fact that a prior felony conviction appears in McCreary’s record raises questions about how that background check was conducted and what information it surfaced, particularly given that the position is associated with the city of Prichard and not with a law enforcement agency. The city’s response, which was to refer inquiries to the FBI, suggests that the city itself is not conducting a parallel investigation and is treating the matter as a federal prosecution.
The deeper issue that the case illustrates is the challenge that municipalities across the country face in trying to verify prior convictions when hiring for civilian positions. Some states have implemented automatic record-relief or expungement procedures that, in theory, are meant to give people with old convictions a fresh start. In practice, however, those procedures often do not reach the federal system, do not restore firearm rights, and may not be reflected in the kind of commercial background checks that most employers rely on. McCreary’s reported belief that his conviction had been expunged and that he was therefore permitted to carry a firearm is a reminder of how confusing that landscape can be, both for the people directly affected and for the agencies that hire them.
For the federal court system in Mobile, the case is one of many felon-in-possession prosecutions that come through the Southern District of Alabama each year. The U.S. Attorney’s Office regularly handles firearms cases tied to traffic stops, probation and supervised-release violations, and active investigations into other crimes. The September 28 jury selection date will be the next major milestone, and depending on how pretrial motions unfold, the case could resolve through a guilty plea, a trial, or a series of rulings on what the jury is allowed to hear. Whatever the outcome, the underlying issue — what the federal government requires of someone with an old felony conviction who wants to lawfully possess a firearm — is one that will keep coming up across the Gulf Coast.