Deundalas Gales

Introduction

Deundalas Gales, 37, an Albuquerque drug trafficker who amassed an arsenal of firearms — including machinegun conversion devices — and hundreds of grams of methamphetamine and fentanyl, has been sentenced to nearly 29 years in federal prison for drug trafficking and machinegun offenses. He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, unlawful possession of a machinegun, and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Upon his release from prison, he will be subject to five years of supervised release. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and DEA Special Agent in Charge Robert “Eric” Castañeda made the announcement.

Background Information

Gales, 37, is from Albuquerque. As a previously convicted felon with prior convictions for assault, aggravated robbery, and possession of a controlled substance, he was prohibited from possessing a firearm and ammunition. He resolved the case by pleading guilty to four counts: possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine; possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; unlawful possession of a machinegun; and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The release gives no date for the plea and no date for the sentencing, and it describes no further details about Gales’s background or employment beyond his age, his city, and the prior convictions it lists.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced.

According to court documents, the violence began with a crash. On July 6, 2024, Gales was driving at a high rate of speed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when he crashed into another vehicle. Immediately after the crash, he fired approximately 25 rounds toward the other vehicle from a handgun equipped with a machinegun conversion device. The other vehicle sustained multiple gunshots, but the other driver was not struck. Gales then fled the scene on foot, abandoning the vehicle, which contained 447.1 grams of methamphetamine with 99% purity and a stolen shotgun. As he fled, he dropped the firearm with the conversion device, his wallet, and other personal belongings — the trail investigators used to eventually identify him.

A week later, Gales was the subject of another emergency response. On July 13, 2024, officers responded to reports that he was breaking into a neighbor’s apartment and setting fire to his own apartment. Officers found Gales bleeding, wearing body armor, and holding a loaded firearm magazine. After safely detaining him, Albuquerque Police Department officers entered his smoke-filled apartment to check for occupants and observed firearms and fentanyl pills in plain view.

The searches that followed catalogued the scale of the operation. Investigators obtained a search warrant for the apartment and recovered 216.5 net grams of fentanyl, 892.7 net grams of methamphetamine, five firearms, a black powder revolver, approximately 500 rounds of ammunition, digital scales, and multiple firearm magazines. Detectives also searched Gales’s vehicle, parked at the apartment, recovering approximately 204 grams of fentanyl, 112.8 net grams of methamphetamine, and five additional firearms, including another machinegun conversion device.

Gales answered for all of it in federal court. He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, unlawful possession of a machinegun, and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and he was sentenced to nearly 29 years in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico prosecuted the case, with the Drug Enforcement Administration investigating alongside the Albuquerque Police Department and the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office. The release gives no date for the plea or the sentencing.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The sentence was announced publicly by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and DEA Special Agent in Charge Robert “Eric” Castañeda, who presented the nearly 29-year term as the outcome of a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation carried out with assistance from the Albuquerque Police Department and the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office. The release itself contains no victim statements or community commentary beyond the announcement, so no wider public reaction is described. The concrete consequences on the record are the four-count conviction, the prison term of nearly 29 years, the five years of supervised release that follow, and the seizures: more than 1.4 kilograms of methamphetamine and hundreds of grams of fentanyl across the two searches, ten firearms plus a black powder revolver, roughly 500 rounds of ammunition, scales, and magazines, with machinegun conversion devices among the firearms.

Current Status

Gales has been convicted and sentenced. He pleaded guilty to the four counts — possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, unlawful possession of a machinegun, and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition — and he was sentenced to nearly 29 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release upon his release from prison. The release does not state when he pleaded guilty or when the sentence was imposed, where he is being held, or whether any appeal is pending, leaving the prison term as the final disposition described in the record.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The judgment against Gales stacks a prison term of nearly 29 years — the equivalent of most of an adult working life — on top of a record that already included convictions for assault, aggravated robbery, and possession of a controlled substance, and it leaves him facing five more years of supervised release afterward in a federal system with no parole. The evidence behind it is extensive: approximately 25 rounds fired at a driver who was not struck, more than 1.4 kilograms of methamphetamine and roughly 420 grams of fentanyl recovered across the apartment and vehicle searches, and ten firearms and a black powder revolver, including machinegun conversion devices. The release describes no further details about Gales’s life, work, or circumstances beyond his age, his Albuquerque residence, his prior convictions, his guilty pleas, and his sentence.

Sources

• U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Mexico, “Albuquerque Man Sentenced for Drug Trafficking and Machinegun Offenses”, October 28, 2026 — source