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Atlanta fentanyl drug dealer sentenced to 15 years for automatic firearm

By FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
East Point
Published August 11, 2026 8:53 PM EDT
Published August 11, 2026 8:53 PM EDT

The Brief

    • An Atlanta man received 15 years in federal prison for selling fentanyl while carrying a fully automatic machine gun. 
    • Authorities caught the convicted felon with hundreds of fentanyl pills and a converted handgun after he tackled an investigator. 
    • Ballistics testing later linked the converted automatic firearm to an earlier drive-by shooting in East Point. 

ATLANTA - Federal officials sentenced a 28-year-old repeat offender to 15 years in federal prison for trafficking fentanyl while carrying an illegal machinegun in Atlanta. 

Federal court hands down sentence

What we know:

U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee ordered Reginald Pierce to serve 15 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Pierce pleaded guilty on March 17 to charges of possessing fentanyl with intent to distribute, illegal machine gun possession, and being a felon with a firearm. 

A Fulton County Sheriff's Office investigator pulled over a car carrying Pierce as a passenger on May 30, 2023. Pierce tried to run away and tackled the officer before investigators subdued him. 

Officers found an illegally converted automatic pistol in Pierce's pants pocket, along with 469 fentanyl pills, oxycodone, methamphetamine, and $10,020 in cash inside and near the car. Pierce was already barred from owning firearms due to past convictions for armed robbery and a gang-related stabbing of five people. 

Unanswered details in firearm case

What we don't know:

Officials have not publicly disclosed who fired the automatic weapon during the East Point drive-by shooting prior to Pierce's arrest. It remains unknown whether federal prosecutors plan to file additional charges related to that specific shooting incident. 

Federal and local enforcement partnership

Dig deeper:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives used its national ballistics intelligence network to connect Pierce's seized handgun to a drive-by shooting in East Point, Georgia, from a week prior to his arrest. Federal prosecutors noted the machinegun conversion device turned the pistol into an exceptionally dangerous weapon. 

The joint effort fell under Project Safe Neighborhoods and Operation Take Back America, a Justice Department initiative focused on eliminating violent criminal organizations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren E. Renaud prosecuted the case following the joint investigation by the ATF and the Fulton County Sheriff's Office. 

The Source: The information in this story was gathered from U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg of the Northern District of Georgia, who issued a press release detailing the conviction and sentencing, as well as statements from the ATF Atlanta Field Division and Fulton County Sheriff Patrick "Pat" Labat. 

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