A convicted drug trafficker found guilty of distributing fentanyl that resulted in the deaths of two Hillsborough County men.
Acting United States Attorney Sara C. Sweeney announces that a federal jury found 39-year-old Marquis Lamar McCullough, of Tampa, guilty of two counts of distribution of fentanyl and one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. For both counts of distribution of fentanyl, the jury also found that the death of a person resulted from the use of the fentanyl that McCullough had distributed. McCullough, who was previously convicted of trafficking in cocaine, faces mandatory sentences of life imprisonment.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, on April 22, 2021, deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) responded to the residence of K.K. to conduct a wellness check. They found K.K. dead when they entered his apartment, standing with his feet on the floor and his head and torso on top of the bathroom counter. Deputies found two baggies with small quantities of a substance, suspected to be heroin or fentanyl, in K.K.’s residence.
Detectives reviewed K.K.’s cellphone and found communications with a woman who appeared to help K.K. purchase fentanyl the previous evening. The woman—who was a heroin user and not a dealer—was arrested on an unrelated charge and interviewed by detectives. She told them that K.K. could not get heroin from his usual source, so he asked her to buy heroin for him from her source, and she agreed to do it if she got to keep a bag for herself. The woman arranged a meeting with her supplier, “Slim,” and K.K. took her to meet Slim. With money provided by K.K., the woman bought several bags from Slim, provided most of them to K.K., and kept a couple of bags for herself…