Drug Kingpin Sentenced For Overdose Deaths, Fentanyl Sales

ODENTON, MD — An Odenton man was sentenced to 20 years in prison without the possibility of parole for his role leading a drug-trafficking network that prosecutors said was responsible for overdose deaths from fentanyl.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown on Thursday announced the plea and sentencing of Darvin Kevin McCoy, 36, of Odenton, on charges including drug kingpin and supervision of a criminal organization. He was a leader of a fentanyl distribution ring that operated in Howard County, Baltimore City, and Baltimore County, according to a news release.

On Jan. 23, McCoy pleaded guilty in Howard County Circuit Court to several charges, including drug kingpin, supervision of a criminal organization, conspiracy to commit robbery, solicitation of robbery, illegal possession of a regulated firearm, possession of a firearm with nexus to a drug trafficking crime, possession of a large amount of fentanyl mixture, and two counts of distribution of fentanyl.

The robbery charges stem from McCoy’s role in the robbery of money, drugs, and jewelry of a co-conspirator as a sanction for transgressions against the criminal organization, a news release said.

The case began as an investigation by Howard County Police into a non-fatal opioid overdose. Investigators linked the overdose to as many as six additional overdoses that occurred in Maryland and Virginia, including one fatal overdose.

During the investigation, police seized more than one kilogram of fentanyl and six handguns. Brown's office said detectives saw hundreds of hand-to-hand drug transactions in multiple jurisdictions and intercepted communications that confirmed the distribution of large amounts of fentanyl throughout Maryland.

McCoy is one of six defendants charged in the investigation. On Nov. 22, 2022, another defendant, Jawan Markeys Fulton, 28, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court for Howard County to supervision of a criminal organization, conspiracy to commit robbery, possession of a firearm with nexus to a drug trafficking crime, possession of a large amount of fentanyl, and distribution of fentanyl.

Fulton was sentenced to 20 years of incarceration, suspending all but five years to be served without the possibility of parole, and three years of supervised probation. Charges are still pending for the remaining four co-defendants.