URBANA, ILL. — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)), published as received.
URBANA, Ill. – A Danville, Illinois, man, Marcus “Slim” McKinney, 50, was sentenced on August 14, 2026, to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on three drug trafficking charges, including his involvement in a drug conspiracy that resulted in the overdose death of Maggie Avelar on August 19, 2023, and the overdose of another victim who suffered serious bodily harm on April 15, 2023. McKinney was also sentenced to forty years of imprisonment on another drug trafficking charge and twenty years of imprisonment on separate charges for maintaining drug-involved premises, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering.
At the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Colin S. Bruce, the judge considered evidence from McKinney’s November 2025 jury trial showing that McKinney was released by the federal Bureau of Prisons to an address on South State Street in Danville, Illinois, on April 6, 2023, on conditions of home confinement, including location monitoring with an ankle monitor. From that date until his arrest in Springfield, Illinois, on June 26, 2024, McKinney conspired with others to distribute crystal methamphetamine (“ice”), cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl, including exchanging the drugs with women for sex. The jury found that over the weekend of April 15, 2023, McKinney distributed an opioid to a woman who overdosed and would have died if not treated with Narcan, an opioid reversal agent, by the Danville Fire Department and paramedics with Arrow Ambulance. McKinney had falsely told the woman the substance only contained cocaine. The trial evidence showed that same weekend three other people overdosed on drugs provided by McKinney, including another fatal overdose. McKinney continued using the South State Street residence for the use and distribution of illegal drugs until he moved to Kentucky Avenue in Danville later that summer.
The trial evidence further established that McKinney used the premises on Kentucky Avenue to continue his ongoing drug conspiracy, including using and distributing drugs from the residence. The trial jury found that on August 19, 2023, McKinney distributed methamphetamine and fentanyl – a mixture McKinney referred to as a “Hot Shot” – to Avelar, resulting in her death at the Kentucky Avenue home. The next morning, McKinney and his brother, James “Brownski” Young, engaged in obstruction of justice by lying to the Danville Police Department about the circumstances surrounding Avelar’s death to attempt to avoid law enforcement learning about McKinney’s true involvement in the overdose. A DVR surveillance system seized from the residence and played at trial showed McKinney and Young discussing their plan to mislead the police and then their subsequent lies. Young was previously sentenced to 68 months of imprisonment for obstruction of justice, as well as his own drug trafficking activities.
In September of 2023, the Bureau of Prisons required McKinney to go to a halfway house located in Springfield, Illinois, due to violations of his conditions of home confinement in Danville. McKinney continued his drug distribution conspiracy in Springfield, including distributing over one pound of methamphetamine to a Drug Enforcement Administration confidential source on June 20, 2024. Six days later, DEA agents seized over two pounds of methamphetamine and over five kilograms of cocaine from storage lockers in Springfield that McKinney had opened under the confidential source’s name. The jury further found that McKinney engaged in witness tampering in January of 2025 while his federal charges were pending, when he wrote a letter to a potential witness urging her to contact McKinney’s attorney and falsely say that other witnesses were lying about McKinney’s drug activities and were trying to get her to lie as well.
At Friday’s sentencing hearing, Maggie Avelar’s sister addressed McKinney, telling him “You robbed [Maggie’s’s] parents of their daughter, her siblings of their sister, her nieces and nephews of their aunt, and most importantly, you robbed her son of his mother. . . . She was the person I looked up to as a little girl – the one who brushed my hair, cooked me dinner, and comforted me when I needed it most. She was a loving mother to the luckiest boy, a boy who has been robbed of the honor of having his mother here today.”
In requesting a life sentence, the United States stressed that McKinney had five prior felony drug trafficking convictions, including two prior federal convictions, and that McKinney was still completing a previously imposed eight-year federal drug trafficking sentence and wearing an ankle location monitor when he committed these numerous crimes, which resulted in multiple overdoses, including the death of Avelar. The United States also argued that McKinney had never apologized to or expressed remorse for all the people his crimes had hurt.
At sentencing, Judge Bruce overruled McKinney’s objection to the mandatory life sentence, finding that he was required to impose a life sentence based on McKinney’s drug conspiracy conviction, his prior felony drug offenses, and the jury findings that McKinney distributed drugs that resulted in serious bodily injury and death. In imposing three life sentences for three of McKinney’s drug trafficking convictions, Judge Bruce noted that McKinney’s conduct showed that he “doesn’t care” about his crimes or the people he hurt.
“Opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl, pose an extreme peril to human life. The defendant’s distribution of cocaine and methamphetamine secretly mixed with fentanyl resulted in multiple overdose deaths and shows a chilling disregard for human life,” said U.S. Attorney Gregory M. Gilmore. “Our office is dedicated to pursing justice for victims of drug trafficking and to protecting our communities from those, like the defendant, who seek to sow harm. We are grateful to our federal and local law enforcement partners for their invaluable work on this case.”
“Marcus McKinney turned addiction into a business model and human life into collateral damage,” said Homeland Security Investigations Chicago Special Agent in Charge Matthew Scarpino. “Even while under federal supervision, he pushed poison into our communities, left victims and families devastated, and then tried to obstruct justice. HSI and our law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue those who profit from addiction, violence, and death, and we will not stop until they are held accountable.”
The case investigation was conducted by the Danville Police Department; Homeland Security Investigations; the Illinois State Police; the Springfield Police Department; and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller represented the United States at trial and sentencing.
