FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
December 20, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DRUG DEALER THAT SOLD HEROIN LEADING TO OVERDOSE DEATH SENTENCED TO 14 YEARS IN PRISON
Also Participated in a String of Pharmacy Robberies
in Baltimore County and Hagerstown, Maryland Area
Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg, sentenced Mark Alan Bryan, age 23, of Maugansville, Maryland, today to 14 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute heroin.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Ava Cooper-Davis of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Washington Field Division; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Colonel Terrence Sheridan, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Washington County Sheriff Douglas W. Mullendore.
“Heroin is a drug that destroys lives, and tragically, sometimes takes them,” stated Ava A. Cooper-Davis, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge. “The sentence Mr. Bryan received is fitting, and perhaps this tragedy will make someone think twice about trying heroin.”
According to Bryan’s guilty plea, on October 24, 2008, Curt Bannon met Bryan at a sub shop in Hagerstown, Maryland. They drove to the apartment of Bryan’s drug supplier where Bryan bought a small amount of heroin and handed it over to Mr. Bannon. They drove back to the sub shop and Bryan left.
Mr. Bannon spent the evening at his home. The next morning, his parents found him dead in his bedroom. The medical examiner found that the cause of death was heroin intoxication, and that Mr. Bannon had not consumed any alcoholic beverages. Law enforcement interviewed Bryan, who admitted that he sold heroin to Bannon three or four times, with the last time being the incident on October 24, 2008.
Bryan was also involved in a string of pharmacy robberies in the Baltimore County and Hagerstown, Maryland areas in which he and his accomplices demanded prescription drugs, including oxycodone and other narcotics. Around May 9, 2009, Bryan and another accomplice robbed the Rite Aid Pharmacy on 835 W. Hillcrest Road in Hagerstown of drugs. On May 15, 2009, Bryan and two others attempted to rob the Lykos Pharmacy on 2101 York Road, Timonium, Maryland, but fled after an employee said they did not have any oxycodone. Later that day, Bryan and two others robbed the Austin Pharmacy on 6729 York Road, Baltimore of oxycodone pills. Finally, on June 23, 2009, Bryan participated in a robbery of the Rite Aid Pharmacy at 22411 Jefferson Boulevard, Smithsburg, Maryland where more oxycodone pills were stolen.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the DEA-Hagerstown Resident Office; Washington County Sheriff’s Office; Hagerstown City Police Department; Baltimore County Police Department; and Maryland State Police for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney Mushtaq Gunja, who prosecuted the case.