Winterville repeat offender pleads guilty to federal drug trafficking charges

Mandrell Antwoin Hull in a 2011 photo of the Georgia Department of Corrections

By Joe Johnson

A Winterville man with a lengthy criminal history

on Monday pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in U.S. District Court in Athens. Mandrell Antwoin Hull, 43, pleaded guilty to one count each of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

A sentencing date was not immediately set, but he faces a possible maximum of life imprisonment without parole.

“Repeat offenders who continually disregard the law and whose actions harm our communities must be held accountable,” said the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. “Our office will continue to do everything in our power to support the efforts of local, state and federal law enforcement to uphold the law and keep our neighborhoods safe.”

According to court documents and statements referenced in court, Hull was serving supervised release for a 2018 federal drug conviction when in April 2023, U.S. probation officers asked the FBI in Athens to assist in conducting a search of Hull’s residence in Oglethorpe County, where they believed that he was storing illegal drugs. That same day, agents and officers searched his Winterville property and located cocaine, $32,826 in drug proceeds and a loaded 9mm pistol.

Records indicated that Hull had five prior felony convictions in Athens-Clarke County and one prior conviction in Gwinnett County, Those were in addition to his prior federal felony conviction.

Hull’s case was investigated as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal program that brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence.

The case was investigated by the FBI Athens Resident Agency Middle Georgia Safe Streets Gang Task Force and the Oglethorpe County Sheriff’s Office.