Brothers Convicted Of Heroin Distribution

Louisville, KY – A federal jury convicted a pair of Louisville-based brothers, Eric and Marcus Bennett, this week of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin.   Eric Bennett, age 43, and Marcus Bennett, age 44, were convicted of conspiring to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin.  Eric Bennett was also convicted on charges of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the defendants each sold heroin to a confidential source between November 2016 and March 2017.  Eric Bennett was arrested in February 2017 after taking evasive maneuvers to evade law enforcement surveillance, and tossing two parcels of heroin out the car window in a residential neighborhood.  Federal agents backtracked on foot over the route Bennett had taken and recovered the heroin in a driveway and the curtilage near a recycling bin.  Eric Bennett was arrested at that time and found with a loaded Sig Sauer p250 pistol in the glove compartment of his car.  Eric Bennett has a prior state court conviction for trafficking in a controlled substance (cocaine) and fleeing or evading police.

The defendants were both acquitted of charges related to the 2016 shooting of a United States Postal Service mail carrier who survived a gunshot wound to the face.  The charges related to the shooting included conspiracy to murder a federal employee, attempted murder of a federal employee, forcible assault of a federal employee, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky made the announcement.

The United States Postal Inspection Service investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford presented the case at trial for the United States.   Sentencing is scheduled before Senior Judge Thomas B. Russell on October 19, 2021, in the U.S. Gene Snyder Courthouse in Louisville, Kentucky, at 10:00 a.m.

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