Mobile County Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Methamphetamine Trafficking and Firearm Offense

MOBILE, AL - Gregory Deon Hickenbottom was sentenced on October 8, 2026, by United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer to 181 months in prison for trafficking methamphetamine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.

According to court documents, on July 8, 2025, a Mobile County Sheriff's Office deputy stopped Hickenbottom for speeding. While speaking with Hickenbottom and obtaining his driver's license, the deputy observed an open container of liquor and smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle. When the deputy and a backup unit approached the driver's side to ask Hickenbottom to exit the vehicle, he sped away, prompting deputies to pursue him.

During the pursuit, a deputy saw a large, clear plastic bag being thrown from the passenger-side window. Deputies later recovered the bag from a ditch near the location where they had observed Hickenbottom discard it. The bag contained multiple one-ounce bags of methamphetamine packaged for distribution. Deputies also recovered a loaded 9mm handgun across the street from an elementary school. Although deputies did not see Hickenbottom discard the firearm because he had just rounded a turn at a high rate of speed, the weapon was found along his path of flight. The drugs were recovered a short distance away. Testing at the Drug Enforcement Laboratory in Miami, Florida, determined that the methamphetamine weighed 294 grams and was 99% pure.

Hickenbottom eluded deputies during the pursuit, driving recklessly at speeds exceeding 90 mph through a residential area. A short time later, deputies located his Mercedes sedan, abandoned at the Scenic Motel on Moffett Road. While deputies remained in the area to continue their investigation, a citizen reported seeing Hickenbottom get into a Ford Escape driven by a woman. Deputies located the Ford Escape near the area where the methamphetamine and firearm had been discarded. The woman later told deputies that Hickenbottom had admitted throwing drugs and a gun from his vehicle and needed a ride to recover them. Deputies found Hickenbottom hiding on the floorboard behind the front seats of the vehicle. When arrested, he possessed a small amount of cocaine and digital scales used to weigh drugs.

Deputies also encountered a man walking in the area where the methamphetamine and firearm had been discarded. The man told law enforcement that Hickenbottom had contacted him by phone and asked him to search the ditch for the gun and drugs. Hickenbottom later admitted to deputies that he had fled because he had so much "dope."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Mobile County Sheriff's Office investigated the case.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello commended the law enforcement officers who investigated the case, noting that the deputies' persistence in remaining in the area until Hickenbottom and the drugs were located demonstrated their dedication to duty. Costello also emphasized that, although deputies did not see Hickenbottom discard the firearm, their thorough search along his path of flight prevented a potentially dangerous situation in which a child in the neighborhood could have encountered the loaded weapon.

Assistant U.S. Attorney George F. May prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and other federal and local agencies with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Alabama.