Cairo meth dealer sentenced to 188 months for selling in Cape Girardeau

A Cairo, Illinois, man was sentenced Wednesday, July 3, to 188 months in prison for selling thousands of dollars worth of methamphetamine in Cape Girardeau.

Marcus M. Nelson, 42, sold 157 grams of meth for $1,600 to an informant with the Drug Enforcement Administration, and later sold nearly 1 pound for $3,200 in July 2023, according to a news release issued by the federal prosecutor's office of the Eastern District of Missouri.

The news release stated the sentence will run consecutive to any prison sentence he receives for violating parole on his robbery conviction, the news release stated. Nelson was previously sentenced to 140 months in prison after a 2001 conviction for being involved in a cocaine distribution conspiracy in the Southern District of Illinois.

In a sentencing memorandum filed with the court, Nelson's attorney explained that Nelson had a difficult upbringing in Cairo Illinois as a ward of the court who was diagnosed with ADHD and mild retardation. The document said Nelson did not incur any parole violations for absconding or failing to report for drug testing, but rather violated his parole for possessing and distributing drugs as a way to make money to sustain himself and pay off child support debt. The document said Nelson turned himself in.

The defense attorney asked the court to impose a sentence of less than 132 months.

The prosecutor handling the case was assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis.

U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. handed down the sentence.