Overview

• A federal jury found 43-year-old Marcus Hicks guilty after a three-day trial on possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of cocaine base (crack), and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
• Prosecutors said Hicks possessed 97 grams of cocaine, 15 grams of crack cocaine, and two and one-half pounds of marijuana on Nov. 21, 2022, with the drugs intended for distribution.
• U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled Hicks’s sentencing for Jan. 27, 2026, and the cocaine and cocaine base counts each carry potential penalties of up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $1 million.
• In a separate months-long investigation, Springfield detectives arrested 44-year-old Raul Pantoja after observing his vehicle on Calhoun Street and seized a loaded firearm, approximately 28 bags of heroin, crack-cocaine, drug paraphernalia, and more than $5,300.
• Pantoja was booked on state charges that include cocaine trafficking (36–100 grams), possession with intent to distribute a Class A drug, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license, and carrying a loaded firearm without a license.