A Meridian man is headed to federal prison on a gun charge.

Roderick Dunshaw Tingle, 38, was sentenced on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves to 10 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Kurt Thielhorn, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Tingle was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

On March 22, 2019, Meridian Police Department officers responded to a burglary alarm at a house on 23rd Avenue in Meridian, according to a news release.

When the officers entered the house to see if anyone was inside, they found marijuana on the kitchen counter along with baggies and scales. A search warrant was obtained for the home and three pounds of marijuana was found along with four pistols and two assault-style rifles, according to the news release.

Neighbors told police that they believed drug sales might be occurring at the house, due to the large number of cars stopping by very frequently. A neighbor also identified Tingle as the resident of the house. When interviewed by police, denied that the guns or the marijuana belonged to him. Tingle gave a name and telephone number for a person he said owned the guns. A records check showed that account for that phone number was in the name of Roderick D. Tingle.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Meridian Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charles W. Kirkham.

The case is part of Project EJECT, an initiative by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi under the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods and Project Guardian.