Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

PEORIA, Ill. – An East Moline, Illinois, man, Marcus Dixon, 29, was sentenced on July 18, 2023, to 260 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, following his conviction for possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and marijuana, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, and two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Dixon was convicted following a jury trial in March 2023 in front of Chief U.S. District Judge Sara Darrow. During that trial, the government presented evidence establishing that on October 20, 2019, Dixon fled from a car crash at the intersection of Seventeenth Street and First Avenue in Rock Island, Illinois. Officers searched the car and found a photograph of Dixon, three loaded firearms, and several bags of crack cocaine and marijuana. Additionally, Dixon’s DNA was later found on a deployed airbag. At the time of the crash, Dixon was on supervised release in connection with a prior federal offense.

On December 18, 2019, Dixon’s federal probation officer filed a petition for revocation and obtained a search warrant for Dixon’s home in relation to the October 20 incident. Probation officers searched Dixon’s residence in East Moline, Illinois, and located a gun storage box for a firearm that had the same serial number as a firearm located in the crashed car. Additional evidence obtained during the search, including Dixon’s cell phone and a set of car keys, was indicative of drug dealing and led probation officers to a second address in Silvis, Illinois, and a white Audi that was apparently used by Dixon. Inside the Audi, probation officers found two vacuum sealed bags of marijuana and two firearms. Dixon’s fingerprints were later found on one of the bags of marijuana.

The statutory penalty for possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and marijuana is up to 20 years imprisonment; for possession of a firearm as a felon it is up to 10 years’ imprisonment (based on the penalties in place at the time of the offense conduct); for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime it is five years to life imprisonment; and for possession with intent to distribute marijuana it is up to five years’ imprisonment.

The case investigation was conducted by the Illinois State Police; the Rock Island Police Department; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Weir and Timothy Sullivan represented the government in the prosecution.

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