Zackery B. Laney, 31, formerly of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for possession of pseudoephedrine with intent to manufacture methamphetamine. The hard fall of an active-duty Army sergeant unfolded in U.S. District Court as Judge James C. Dever, III handed down the sentence, marking the end of a volatile spiral that threatened lives on and off base.
Laney pled guilty on July 9, 2018, to the federal charge, but the crime’s roots trace back to a chilling report on November 27, 2017. His wife alerted the Fort Bragg Criminal Investigation Command that Laney, then a sergeant in the U.S. Army, threatened to kill members of his chain of command. She reported an AR-15 rifle was missing from their home and feared he was planning violence. Even more alarming, she disclosed that Laney was manufacturing and using drugs—detailing a ticking time bomb behind military walls.
The situation detonated the same day. After being contacted by a U.S. Army captain and ordered to return to his unit, Laney complied—only to flee the building moments later. He jumped into his vehicle and attempted to start it. Ordered back, he complied—but not before military police searched his car. Inside the back seat: an AR-15 rifle with a loaded magazine and one round chambered. A second partially loaded magazine was found in the driver’s door. But it wasn’t just weapons—agents uncovered a bag with a funnel, plastic tubing capped with a bottle, electrical tape, and ammonium nitrate cold packs. All hallmarks of a mobile meth lab.
Further investigation pulled back the curtain on Laney’s drug operation. Using his military ID, Laney made 95 pseudoephedrine purchases between November 30, 2016, and November 26, 2017—totaling 219.84 grams from at least 14 pharmacies in Cumberland County. Records from the National Precursor Log Exchange (NPLEx) showed he used two ID numbers tied to his military card to skirt legal purchase limits. Authorities concluded he manufactured methamphetamine continuously during that 13-month stretch.
This case was prosecuted under the Take Back North Carolina Initiative, a federal push to embed prosecutors in high-crime communities to dismantle violent crime, drug networks, and attacks on law enforcement. The Fort Bragg Military Police, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation joined forces to build the case, exposing not just a drug offender but a soldier turned domestic threat with weapons and chemicals at the ready.
Assistant United States Attorney Scott A. Lemmon handled the prosecution. Laney’s fall from uniform to federal inmate underscores the rot that can fester behind rank and duty. Now, he serves five years for turning his military knowledge into a toolkit for destruction—meth, mayhem, and a loaded rifle aimed at the chain of command he once swore to uphold.
Related Federal Cases
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- Ivan Rodriguez Chavez, Brent Hutchins Plead Guilty in Meth Conspiracy · North Carolina
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- 16 Meth Traffickers Face Decades Behind Bars in NC · North Carolina
Key Facts
- State: North Carolina
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Weapons|Public Corruption
- Source: Official Source ↗
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