Intercepted Package Containing 1.6 Pounds of Fentanyl Leads to Conviction

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA - Jaquan Marquis Brock, 29, of Charlotte, North Carolina, pleaded guilty today to attempted possession with intent to distribute more than 400 grams of fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey.

According to the plea agreement and statements made in court, U.S. Postal Inspectors intercepted a package mailed to an apartment in Morgantown from an address in Scottsdale, Arizona. A search warrant for the package was executed and investigators found more than 1.6 pounds of fentanyl. The Postal Inspection Service worked with the Mon Metro Drug Task Force to deliver the package. Brock retrieved the package and was arrested in the parking lot.

Brock faces 10 years to life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Cogar is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Mon Metro Drug Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated.

Fentanyl has been designated by President Donald Trump as a weapon of mass destruction due to its extreme lethality which poses a grave threat to public safety, even in trace amounts. This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime, and repel the invasion of illegal immigration.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael John Aloi presided.