PUNTA GORDA — A judge sentenced a Punta Gorda man to 21 years in prison for selling crack near parks.
James Sullivan McNealy, 49, was sentenced this week as a habitual felony offender in four cases of sale of cociane within 1,000 feet of a park, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Circuit Judge Shannon McFee handed down the sentences, which are to be served concurrently.
McNealy was arrested in 2023 when an undercover informant working with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit bought crack cocaine from McNealy in a wooded lot near a store in Punta Gorda. The store is near the Cooper Street Recreation Center and at least one church, court records show.
McNealy, who was known as “Lil Man,” would sell crack rocks out of a vial and sometimes conceal them in aluminum foil or cigarette paper, reports show.
Deputies watched the transactions take place and arrested McNealy on a warrant.
McNealy, whose address is listed as Cheyenne Street, Punta Gorda, submitted an open plea on the cases, so the sentencing was not part of a plea agreement. His criminal record stretches back years in the Charlotte County records.