Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that a Trenton narcotics dealer was convicted at trial of distributing a first-degree quantity of cocaine. He was charged in an investigation by the New Jersey State Police, during which he distributed half a pound of cocaine.
Officials said Marcus Covington, 37, of Trenton, was found guilty yesterday, May 17th, by a Mercer County jury of all five counts against him in a state grand jury indictment, including a first-degree charge of distribution of cocaine, second-degree charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and distribution of cocaine within 500 feet of a public housing project, and third-degree charges of possession of cocaine and distribution of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school. He was convicted following a trial before Superior Court Judge Robert W. Bingham II. Covington is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29.
According to authorities, the state presented testimony and evidence that from Feb. 10 through June 15, 2016, Covington conducted 10 sales of cocaine in Trenton totaling approximately 224 grams. In three of the transactions, Covington was assisted by a co-conspirator, Wayne Meyers, 35, of Trenton. Meyers previously pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree distribution of cocaine and faces a recommended sentence of seven years and two months in prison, with 43 months of parole ineligibility. He is scheduled for sentencing on June 15.
“While the opioid epidemic has rightly focused law enforcement attention on heroin, fentanyl and opioid pain pills, we have not lost sight of the fact that cocaine is involved in hundreds of overdose deaths in New Jersey each year and fuels the gun violence that surrounds street-level drug dealing,” said Attorney General Grewal. “I commend the trial team and State Police detectives who have ensured that this drug dealer will spend a long time in prison, where he can’t traffic his poison.”
Officials said the first-degree charge carries a sentence of 10 to 20 years in state prison, including a mandatory period of parole ineligibility equal to one-third to one-half of the sentence imposed, and a criminal fine of up to $500,000.
The second-degree charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in prison, and the third-degree charges carry a sentence of three to five years in prison.