United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Alfred A. Cooke, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Merrillville, Indiana, and U.S. Attorney Clifford D. Johnson for the Northern District of Indiana announced that Meliki Marion, 42, of Michigan City, Indiana, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Damon R. Leichty after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.

Marion was sentenced to 130 months in prison followed by 5 years of supervised release.

According to documents in the case, from June through mid-August 2021, Marion conspired with others to distribute fentanyl in the Michigan City area. Marion’s co-defendants sold pills purporting to be oxycodone that were actually fentanyl.  In August 2021, two co-defendants were stopped while traveling back to Michigan City with over a kilogram of fentanyl pills. Marion was in possession of over $3,000 when apprehended by law enforcement as she attempted to run away from her residence as it was to be searched. Marion admitted that she collected money related to the conspiracy.

This case was investigated by the DEA with the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the LaPorte County Drug Task Force, an Indiana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Initiative, and the Michigan City Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly L. Schultz and Joel Gabrielse.