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Saturday, February 15, 2025

Zanesville man to serve 21 years in prison.

In May of 2023, Marques Parker, 31, of Zanesville, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl along with four additional years due to a post-release control sanction.

Once he arrived in prison, Parker hired attorney Harry Reinhart of Columbus, and the two appealed his plea and sentence, arguing that there had been an error in his plea hearing. The Fifth District Court of Appeals agreed and sent the case back to Muskingum County for trial.

All the previous charges against Parker were reinstated. Parker then filed a motion to suppress the search of the home where he was found with 224 grams of fentanyl, and a hearing was held in front of Judge Kelly Cottrill, who denied the motion.

Parker faced trial February 20, 2025, and on February 14 chose to plead no contest to one count of trafficking fentanyl, a felony of the first degree with major drug offender specification.

The facts underlying the charges were recited in court by APA John Litle who handled the case.

In January 2023, officers from the Zanesville Police Department were called to 817 Shelby St. for what appeared to be two individuals breaking into the house through a window.

Officers surrounded the home and announced their presence at the door. The man who opened the door was detained on the spot.

Several others fled from the basement door into the surrounding neighborhood.

A total of six individuals were apprehended, but Parker escaped.

While searching the house for other suspects, officers found 224 grams of fentanyl sitting in the open, along with tools and materials used to manufacture illegal drugs. It was clear from the scene that the occupant was actively mixing fentanyl with a cutting substance to compound the drug.

Compounding occurs when a drug is combined with another substance or drug, and then repackaged for sale. In the case of the fentanyl on Shelby Street, the fentanyl was being mixed with a fruit powder and then pressed into hard chunks.

During his investigation, now retired Detective Jon Hill with the Zanesville / Muskingum County Drug Unit and CODE Task Force learned that the house was used by Parker, a fentanyl dealer known on the streets as “MP.” Parker left behind his identification, fingerprints, phones and other items as he fled.

The six other individuals involved were at the Shelby Street house that day as “testers.” In the world of street drug sales, a “tester” is a drug addict who is invited by a drug dealer to test out the new batch of drugs for free. The tester informs the dealer of the strength of the drugs, and then later informs other addicts that the drug dealer has a good product and that it is available.

During his first sentencing hearing, Judge Cottrill asked Parker how many people his drugs had killed. Missing the judge’s point, Parker responded that if he had killed someone, he’d be on trial for murder. At his most recent sentencing hearing Parker again indicated that, although his bust was – at the time – the largest fentanyl seizure in the county’s history, he did not think he had been responsible for any overdoses.

Judge Cottrill also reviewed Parker’s behavior report from the time he served in prison while awaiting his appeal. The report reflected drug, alcohol, and other conduct violations committed while in prison.

Given the increased charges to which Parker was found guilty and his behavior in prison, Cottrill sentenced Perker to 17 years in prison plus four years for violating his post-release control by committing a felony, for a total of 21 years in prison.

“It bears repeating,” according to Litle, “that it does not pay to deal drugs in Muskingum County.”

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