Federal Charges Filed Against Local Felon
Federal charges have been filed against a Tabor City area felon who was arrested with a stolen handgun.
McKinley Junior Freeman, 32, had his first appearance in federal court Feb. 21, according to the sheriff’s office. He is in the county detention center awaiting trial in both district and U.S. district courts.
Freeman was initially convicted of attempted common law robbery in 2008, the sheriff’s office said in a press release. On Jan. 4, 2021, the sheriff’s office HEAT team was conduicting a license checking station at Dothan and Ramsey Ford Road near Tabor City when Freeman was arrested again. When deputies approached the car he was riding in, a report said, they detected a “strong odor of marijuana”. Four individuals were in the vehicle. Freeman had a concealed Smith and Wesson handgun in the passenger area, and was charged with carrying a concealed gun and possession of a firearm by a felon.
A records check on the handgun showed that it was reported missing after a traffic collision on Red Hill Road in 2019. The pistol was on the passenger seat of the vehicle at the time of the wreck. The sheriff’s office said after the driver was treated by EMS, he discovered the weapon was missing. He then filed an incident report and provided investigators with the handgun’s serial number.
In March of last year, Freeman was arrested for multiple counts of failure to appear, and placed under a $239,500 secured bond.