Chicago man gets probation in FCI McDowell drone contraband case
A Chicago man got probation in a drone contraband scheme tied to FCI McDowell, where at least two other defendants later pleaded guilty in the same case.
A Chicago man was sentenced to probation in federal court for his role in a drone scheme to transport contraband into FCI McDowell in McDowell County. The case was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, and the sentence avoided prison time.
Court records identify the defendant as Miguel Angel Aleman-Piceno, 23, of Chicago. He received three years of federal probation after pleading guilty in the case tied to the Federal Correctional Institution McDowell, the prison complex that has become one of the county’s most watched federal institutions.
The case points to a security problem that federal corrections officials have faced more often in recent years: small drones can be used to fly prohibited items over fences and camera lines that still protect the prison perimeter. In the FCI McDowell case, the Justice Department said the effort involved a scheme to move contraband into the prison by drone, showing how outside operators can try to bypass ordinary barriers from the air instead of at a gate.
The McDowell County prison did not face this case alone. Related Justice Department releases tied to the same FCI McDowell drone-smuggling matter show that at least two additional defendants later pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme. Another release in the same district also referenced separate contraband cases involving a Chicago man and a Pennsylvania man, underscoring that the investigation reached beyond one defendant and one incident.
FCI McDowell has also been the site of other contraband prosecutions, including a case in which an inmate was sentenced for possessing a weapon. That pattern has kept attention on how the prison is policed, how investigators detect drone drops, and how federal authorities respond when outside smuggling networks target an institution that sits in the middle of McDowell County.
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