Bowie Man Enters Plea In West Virginia Drug Trafficking Case

BOWIE, MD — A 44-year-old Bowie man has pleaded guilty to using and carrying a gun while trafficking drugs, as well as drug possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.

According to court documents, on Aug. 18, 2022, William Phillip McDowell, Jr., also known as Mike, was driving a rental car through Harrison County, West Virginia, with two passengers when an officer from the Clarksburg Police Department stopped the vehicle for speeding. At the time, McDowell’s driver license was suspended and McDowell was on probation for a felony murder conviction.

While searching the vehicle, police found a pack containing a brick-size package of 997.7 grams of fentanyl, 43 baggies containing a total of 16.46 grams of fentanyl, a bag containing 8.89 grams of cocaine and a stolen, loaded .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun, court documents noted.

On July 7, 2023, detectives with the Prince William County Police Department saw McDowell conducting what appeared to be a drug transaction in a parking lot in Woodbridge, Virginia. When McDowell returned to his vehicle, the detectives detained and searched the vehicle. In the passenger seat where McDowell had been sitting, the detectives found a backpack containing a .380 caliber handgun, .380 caliber ammunition, 388 fentanyl pills, 22 grams of cocaine, a digital scale with cocaine residue, $617.85 in cash and a wallet with McDowell’s photo identification card. McDowell pleaded guilty to using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime in connection to that incident, according to court documents.

McDowell is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11. He faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison for the drug trafficking charge from the Northern District of West Virginia and a mandatory minimum of five years to be served consecutively with any other prison term and up to life in prison for the firearms charge from the Eastern District of Virginia.