Montgomery Co. Police: Over Two Thousand Fentanyl Pills Recovered Following Traffic Stop

 For Immediate Release: Friday, March 3, 2023

Gaithersburg, MD - On Monday, February 27, 2023, at approximately 3:15 p.m., Montgomery County Police 4th District officers conducted a traffic stop on a silver Mercedes sedan in the 12300 block of Georgia Avenue for a traffic infraction. 

 

Officers identified the driver of the vehicle as 20-year-old Markus Carter, of Silver Spring, and determined that Carter was driving the vehicle in violation of his learner’s permit.  There were two other occupants of the vehicle, a 20-year-old and an 18-year-old male. 

 

Through investigation, probable cause to search the vehicle was developed.  Inside the vehicle, officers located 250 suspected fentanyl pills and other items indicative of drug distribution.  On Carter’s person, officers located additional fentanyl pills, over $1100 in U.S. Currency, and a loaded .45 caliber handgun. 

 

Later in the evening, 4th District officers and Special Investigations Detectives executed a search warrant at Carter’s residence.  Officers located an additional 1800 suspected fentanyl pills in that location, in addition to more U.S. Currency and other items indicative of drug distribution.  The two other individuals were released without charges.

 

Carter was charged with a number of criminal offenses including illegal possession of a firearm, and possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute. He is being held without bond at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit.

 

In announcing this arrest, Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus G. Jones stated, “This traffic stop is an example of excellent work by our 4th District officers. Last year, we lost over 80 members of our community to fatal drug overdoses. This year, we have already lost over 20.”   “The Drug Enforcement Administration frequently warns ‘one pill can kill,’ Jones continued. “Here, we have one arrest with over 2,000 pills seized.  We never will be able to truly quantify the number of lives that were saved as a direct result of this traffic stop, but without question, this stop saved lives in our community.  Fentanyl overdoses, not to mention the violence associated with drug sales and firearms, are a danger to our entire community, and I commend the work of our 4th District officers and Special Investigations Detectives on their work in this case.”

 

This investigation was an effort of the Montgomery County Department of Police under the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network (MCIN).   MCIN was launched in 2017 and provides grant funding and strategic support through his office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services to MCIN member sites to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal organizations through inter-agency collaboration and data sharing to make Maryland safer. The Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services funded this project under subaward number, MCIN-2023-0012. All points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of any Maryland State office or agency. 

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Release ID: 23-122
Media Contact: S.D. Goff 
Categories: arrest