Former Law School Student Sentenced To Four Years In Prison For Conspiring To Distribute Methamphetamine
WASHINGTON - Marc A. Gersen, 31, a former law school student, was sentenced today to a four-year prison term for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine in the Washington, D.C. area, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police (MPD).
Gersen, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty in November 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He was sentenced by the Honorable Reggie B. Walton. Upon completion of his prison term, Gersen will be placed on three years of supervised release. He also must comply with a forfeiture order calling for the payment of a $120,000 money judgment, pay a fine of $2,500, and perform 400 hours of community service.
According to the facts presented at the plea hearing, between the summer of 2011 and December of 2011, Gersen and others, including Michael Talon and Lee Hylton, conspired and agreed to obtain and distribute wholesale quantities of methamphetamine in the Washington, D.C., area. During the period of the conspiracy, Gersen, then a student at Georgetown Law School, traveled to California to buy the methamphetamine, which he then would ship to Washington D.C. and sell on a regular basis, in quantities ranging from an ounce to half a pound. The wholesale price of a pound of methamphetamine is approximately $26,000.
As part of an investigation, officers with the Metropolitan Police Department executed a search warrant on Nov. 28, 2011 at an apartment shared by Gersen and Talon in the 1600 block of 18th Street NW. They recovered about three grams of methamphetamine, chemicals used for drug manufacturing, and $3,000 in cash. No one was present during the search; at the time, Gersen was visiting his family in Florida, and Talon was away.
Gersen was arrested by the MPD on Dec. 1, 2011. The arrest took place outside of a hotel in the District of Columbia where others involved in the conspiracy were packaging and storing a large a quantity of crystal methamphetamine. Talon and Hylton were arrested at the hotel.
Talon, 30, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and is to be sentenced March 15, 2013. Hylton, 51, of Arlington, Va., pled guilty to the same charge and is to be sentenced March 1, 2013.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen and Chief Lanier commended the work of the MPD officers and the agents and personnel from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Naval Criminal Investigative Service, who worked on the investigation. They also thanked those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Crystal Seldon; Criminal Investigator Duncan Templeton, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patricia Stewart.
