SILVER SPRING, Md. — A Silver Spring man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to intent to distribute over 2,000 fentanyl pills seized during a police investigation.
Markus Carter was just 20 years old and held only a learner’s permit when Montgomery County Police officers pulled him over in February 2023. However, authorities say he did not have a permit for the .45 caliber handgun discovered in his vehicle—nor for the 250 suspected fentanyl pills found in the trunk of his Mercedes.
Now 22, Carter’s sentence also accounts for additional guilty pleas related to firearm offenses and probation violations, alongside the fentanyl charges. After completing his prison term, he faces a suspended sentence of 20 years.
Following the discovery of drugs in Carter’s car, police executed a search at his Silver Spring residence, uncovering an additional 1,800 fentanyl pills.
At the time of Carter’s arrest in 2023, fentanyl-related deaths were a growing crisis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 74,702 fatalities from the synthetic opioid that year. Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus G. Jones stated that, by February 2023 alone, 20 people in the county had already died from drug overdoses.
“We may never be able to measure the full impact of this traffic stop, but there is no doubt that lives were saved in our community as a result,” Chief Jones said after Carter’s arrest.
Carter also faces an upcoming trial in a separate case involving the distribution of synthetic marijuana, according to police.
