First defendant sentenced in multi-state family-based drug trafficking ring

Seattle – A 44-year-old Tacoma resident was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to seven years in prison for his high-level role in a multi-state drug trafficking conspiracy announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Michael Young Jr pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances on July 7, 2025. Young was a high-level member of a group that distributed more than 800,000 fentanyl pills throughout the United States, including in Arizona, Texas, Missouri, Montana, and Georgia. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead noted that fentanyl kills indiscriminately – experienced users, first time users, kids, and parents. “Every pill you moved was a loaded gun – the sentence needs to hold you accountable for the lives you endangered.”

According to the indictment and other records in the case, the drug ring was led by Marquis Jackson, 32, who lived in both Atlanta and the Renton, Washington home of his parents, defendants Mandel Jackson, 51, and Matelita (Marty) Jackson, 50. Also linked to the Renton family home were defendants Markell Jackson, 22, and Miracle Patu-Jackson, 23. Members of the Jackson family are indicted for various conspiracy counts including drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracies. Records filed in the case link some of the Jacksons to a Seattle area street gang.

Over the course of the investigation law enforcement seized more than 846,000 fentanyl pills, nearly 7 kilograms of fentanyl powder, 7 kilograms of cocaine and 29 firearms. They also seized more than $116,000 in cash.

In Whatcom County, teams led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) arrested four people on criminal complaints for fentanyl distribution. According to the complaints, the Whatcom drug traffickers were linked by phone communication and surveillance to the Jackson drug trafficking organization.

In September 2023, four tribal citizens in Whatcom County died of fentanyl overdose within a period of just four days, prompting the Lummi Indian Business Council to declare a state of emergency in response to the escalating fentanyl crisis.

Tribal and federal partners examined the phone of one of the overdose victims and found connections to the Jackson Drug Trafficking Organization.  DEA, the Whatcom Gang and Drug Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have continued to work closely with the Lummi Nation Police to identify additional members of this drug trafficking organization with the goal of stopping the flow of fentanyl into Indian Country and elsewhere.

The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations.  A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

These investigations and prosecutions are part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders.

This case is being investigated by the FBI, (Seattle, Phoenix, Atlanta, Kansas City, Dallas, Las Vegas, Montana), DEA (Seattle, Kansas City, Wichita, Montana), the Seattle Police Department, King County Sheriff’s Office, Whatcom Gang and Drug Task Force, the Lummi Police Department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and United States Border Patrol Blaine Sector Targeting and Intelligence Division.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Zach Dillon, Crystal Correa, and Michael Harder.