Two Men Plead Guilty to Heroin, Fentanyl, and Cocaine Conspiracy

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Two Hampton men pleaded guilty today to their respective roles in a multi-kilogram drug trafficking conspiracy that operated in the peninsula area of the Hampton Roads.

According to court documents, Marcid Byrd, 35, was a cocaine source of supply to Damarcus Mackie, 44. Once Byrd was unable to obtain more cocaine from his source, he would make arrangements with Mackie to obtain cocaine from him. Byrd sold both a few ounces of cocaine at a time and multi-kilogram quantities. In addition to cocaine and cocaine base, Mackie also trafficked in a mixture of heroin and fentanyl. Mackie used one co-conspirator’s home in York County to manufacture heroin/fentanyl pills for distribution. These pills were pressed to look like commonly marketed opioid pills, such as Oxycodone.

Mackie pleaded guilty to operating a continuing criminal enterprise and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison when sentenced on June 19. Byrd pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, two counts of distribution of cocaine, three counts of using a communication facility in furtherance of drug trafficking, and promotion money laundering. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life plus 92 years in prison when sentenced on May 7. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Cookout. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Raymond Villanueva, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C.; Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; Colonel Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of Virginia State Police; Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police; and Terry L. Sult, Chief of Hampton Police Division, made the announcement after U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence R. Leonard accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter G. Osyf and Kevin P. Hudson, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy E. Cross, and Trial Attorney Anthony Aminoff of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS) are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:19-cr-047.