Syracuse Man Pleads Guilty To Federal Drug Conspiracy

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Marcus Sales, 29, of Syracuse, New York, pled guilty yesterday to a federal cocaine distribution conspiracy, announced United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Field Division, and James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As part of his guilty plea, Sales admitted his involvement in a conspiracy to traffic more than 500 grams of cocaine over a period of several months. Sales further admitted that as part of the conspiracy he personally redistributed cocaine to others.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 3, 2019 in Syracuse, New York before Senior U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr.  At sentencing, the defendant faces a mandatory minimum of five years, and a maximum of forty years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000,000, and a term of supervised release of at least four years and up to life.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.  The defendant agreed in his plea agreement to forfeit to the United States the proceeds of his illegal activity.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the New York State Police, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, and the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Commandeur.