Date: May 7, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, and New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson today announced that a federal grand jury in Hartford has returned an indictment charging Levern Marion of West Haven, with possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and a quantity of fentanyl. The indictment was returned on May 1, 2024. Marion appeared today in New Haven federal court and pleaded not guilty to the charge. As alleged in court documents, an investigation that included surveillance, trash pulls, and traffic stops revealed that Marion was distributing controlled substances in and around New Haven. Marion was arrested on March 27, 2024. On that date, a court authorized search of a New Haven residence connected to him revealed approximately 800 grams of cocaine, approximately 260 grams of crack cocaine, and numerous wax folds containing fentanyl. If convicted of the charge in the indictment, Marion faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 40 years. U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Marion has been detained since his arrest. This matter is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration New Haven Task Force and the New Haven Police Department. The DEA New Haven Task Force includes participants from the DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, Connecticut State Police and the New Haven, Waterbury, East Haven, Branford, West Haven, Ansonia, Meriden, Naugatuck, Shelton Police Departments, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI). The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan J. Keefe. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
