Mobile Resident Receives 120 Months for Trafficking Cocaine

United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announces today that Chief United States District Judge Kristi K. DuBose sentenced Marcus Dooms, 32, a resident of Mobile, Alabama and Houston, Texas, to 120 months imprisonment for trafficking cocaine.  The judge ordered that Dooms undergo four years of supervised release after finishing his term of imprisonment, receive substance abuse testing and treatment, and pay a $100 mandatory special assessment. 

On November 22, 2016, a federal grand jury for the Southern District of Alabama indicted Marcus Dooms, his mother Ann Dooms, and co-defendant Ashley Newton for conspiring to distribute cocaine.  On August 23, 2017, Marcus Dooms pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge.  Earlier, Ann Dooms and Ashley Newton pleaded guilty and were sentenced to jail for the offense.    

Around 12:52am on January 6, 2016, Louisiana State Police Senior Trooper Ryan Zimmerman stopped a 2004 Toyota Camry at mile marker 38 eastbound on Interstate 12 in Tangipahoa Parish for a traffic violation.  The driver and registered owner of the vehicle, Ashley Newton, said she was traveling from Houston, Texas to Mobile, Alabama.  A consensual search of the vehicle revealed a total of approximately 2.96 kilograms of cocaine inside a blue Swiss Gear backpack behind the right front seat. 

On January 6, 2016, Newton was questioned by Louisiana State Police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents about drug trafficking.  Newton said she would get a call from Ann Dooms, meet her at a location away from her house in Mobile, and retrieve a bag of money.  Newton said she would then take the money to Marcus Dooms in Houston.  Newton said she would meet Marcus Dooms at a predetermined location -- usually a gas station in Houston -- to give him the money.  Marcus Dooms would then take the money and call Newton later that day to pick up the cocaine for her to transport back to Mobile.  Newton said she delivered the cocaine to Ann Dooms’s house in Mobile and other locations in Mobile. 
 
On January 6, 2016, law enforcement officials interviewed Ann Dooms.  She said she would contact her son in Houston, Marcus Dooms, once she had the cocaine.  Ann Dooms said that Marcus Dooms would call local dealers in Mobile, who would then come to her house and retrieve the cocaine.  Ann Dooms said she had distributed cocaine at least three or four times over the past few months.  Ann Dooms said she collected money from drug dealers.  Once she had the money, she would then contact Ashley Newton, who would then meet Ann Dooms and take the money to Marcus Dooms in Houston. 

On January 6, 2016, law enforcement officials contacted Marcus Dooms.  He gave the name of his drug dealer contact in Mobile.  Marcus Dooms said Newton brought him approximately $85,000 and that he, in turn, gave the money to his supplier.

Currently, Marcus Dooms faces state charges in an unrelated criminal case in Mobile County for allegedly trafficking heroin, trafficking methamphetamine, trafficking cocaine, possession / receiving a controlled substance, possession of marijuana in the first degree, receiving stolen property in the third degree, and use / possession of drug paraphernalia.    

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Louisiana State Police, and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigated the federal case.  Assistant United States Attorney Sinan Kalayoglu prosecuted the case.