Pittsburgh man pleads guilty to conspiring to distribute fentanyl and cocaine

Date: May 22, 2026

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Pittsburgh, PA – A resident of the Allentown neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of violating federal narcotics law as part of a Homeland Security Task Force prosecution, United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.

Malik Martinez pleaded guilty to one count before United States District Judge Marilyn J. Horan on May 21, 2026.

In connection with the guilty plea, the Court was advised that, between March 2024 and July 2024, Martinez participated in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and cocaine, both Schedule II controlled substances, by functioning as a redistributor of street-level amounts of both substances.

Judge Horan scheduled sentencing for Sept. 16, 2026. The law provides for a maximum total sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $1 million, or both. Under the federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed is based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

Pending sentencing, the Court continued Martinez’s detention.

Assistant United States Attorneys Kelly M. Locher and Katherine C. Jordan are prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.

This prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement toward identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations that have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. The Western District of Pennsylvania is part of the Philadelphia HSTF, which comprises agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Internal Revenue Service–Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the United States Marshals Service (USMS), the United States Department of State–Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), and state and local law enforcement partners, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.