Virginia Inmate Pleads Guilty and Gets 20-Month Sentence for Conspiring to Launder Drug Trafficking Proceeds in Prison

 PITTSBURGH – Sterling Marshall pled guilty and was sentenced to 20 months in prison for conspiring to launder drug-trafficking proceeds between 2017 and 2019, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.

Marshall, age 26 of Allegheny County, was sentenced by United States District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan. Judge Ranjan directed that the prison sentence be served consecutively to the federal prison sentence Marshall was serving for prior heroin-trafficking and firearm crimes.

Marshall was incarcerated at USP-Lee in Virginia in 2017 and 2018 when he conspired to launder the proceeds of the distribution of Schedule I synthetic cannabinoid controlled substances. Such substances have caused severe illness and deaths throughout the United States in recent years.

Assistant United States Attorney Craig W. Haller prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General led the multi-agency investigation that also included the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Beaver County District Attorney’s Office, the Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations, the Pittsburgh Police Department, the United States Marshals Service, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Munhall Police Department, the Robinson Township Police Department, the McKees Rocks Police Department, the Stowe Township Police Department, the Etna Police Department, and the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.

This prosecution is a result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles high-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten communities throughout the United States. OCDETF uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.