Illinois Man Sentenced to 360 Months in Prison

HAMMOND- Marco Sole, 52 years old, of Lynwood, Illinois, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Gretchen S. Lund after pleading guilty to distributing 40 grams or more of fentanyl, announced Acting United States Attorney M. Scott Proctor.

Sole was sentenced to 360 months in prison followed by 4 years of supervised release.

According to documents in the case, on June 2, 2022, Sole delivered over 40 grams of fentanyl to another person. He also sold fentanyl on other occasions in Illinois and Indiana. During a search of a stash house Sole operated in Chicago, Illinois, law enforcement recovered additional fentanyl and firearms.

"From his home in Lynwood, Illinois, and a stash house in Chicago, Marco Sole mixed heroin with other even deadlier substances, including fentanyl, p-flourofentanyl (a fentanyl analogue), and xylazine, before delivering those drugs to the Northern District of Indiana, often using an intermediary he directed," said Acting U.S. Attorney Proctor. "This hefty sentence should make one thing clear to any out-of-state drug dealer who might be planning to traffic his poisons in Indiana: the state line will not shield you, and you will be brought to justice. My thanks go out to the brave and talented public servants who brought and prosecuted this case."

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI/GRIT Task Force, Drug Enforcement Administration, HIDTA, the Indiana State Police, and assistance from the Lynwood Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael J. Toth and Kristian R. Mukoski.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Indianapolis comprises agents and officers from FBI, HSI, DEA, ATF, IRS, Indiana State Police, and other partners, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Offices for the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana.