Career Offender Sentenced for Possessing a Firearm While Distributing Fentanyl
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – An Ahoskie, North Carolina, man was sentenced yesterday to 18 years in prison for possessing a firearm while distributing narcotics throughout Hampton Roads.
According to court documents, in or around July 2020, the Newport News Police Department was informed that Marcus Dewayne Smith, 39, was distributing narcotics from various hotels throughout the City of Newport News. In Smith’s hotel room, law enforcement discovered 82 prepackaged glassine packets individually stamped “FIREBALL,” containing a mixture of heroin, fentanyl, and tramadol. Also in Smith’s room was a distribution amount of cocaine, approximately $8,000 in cash, tools and packaging materials for drug distribution, and two loaded semiautomatic handguns. Smith, a prior convicted felon, is prohibited from possessing firearms. Smith’s lengthy and violent criminal history over the past two decades qualifies him as a “Career Offender.”
Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Charlie J. Patterson, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division; and Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Osyf prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:21-cr-43.
