BOSTON - A New Bedford man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to possessing fentanyl intended for distribution.
Marquise Thompson, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs scheduled sentencing for Nov. 2, 2022. Thompson was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2021 and later charged in a superseding Information on July 25, 2022.
In October 2020, Thompson was arrested prior to his attempt to sell fentanyl. Following his arrest, state and federal authorities recovered more than 20 grams of fentanyl and packaging materials from an apartment that Thompson was using in New Bedford to store narcotics.
The charge of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl provides for a mandatory sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; James Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Boston Field Division; and New Bedford Police Chief Paul Oliveira made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan Gotlob of Rollins’ Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.