United States Attorney's Office
Acting United States Attorney Matthew R. Molsen announced that Marcus Buffus Richardson, 25, formerly of Maricopa, Arizona, was sentenced on March 6, 2025, in federal court in Lincoln, Nebraska, for conspiracy to money launder.
United States District Court Judge Susan M. Bazis sentenced Richardson to 72 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After Richardson’s release from prison, he will begin a 3-year term of supervised release.
In January 2023, Nebraska State Patrol investigators were informed by agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Phoenix, Arizona, that a suspicious package was being shipped from Marcus Richardson in Phoenix to an individual in Lincoln. The package arrived in Lincoln and was immediately seized by DEA agents. A search warrant was obtained, and the package was found to contain 993 fake “M30” pills that contained fentanyl. The package was found to have been shipped by Richardson using an interstate packaging service, for the purpose of redistributing it in Nebraska. Richardson had sent at least two other packages to Nebraska in the preceding month that contained a total of approximately 500 similar pills. After the sales of the pills, the distributors would send money back to Richardson in Arizona. The money would be used to finance the acquisition of additional controlled substances to be sent to Nebraska for further distribution.
This case was investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Agency.