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Man charged in overdose death indicted on other charges
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
First he was indicted under the wrong name, then authorities figured out who Marquis Huffman is and arrested him for supplying the drugs that led to someone’s death.
Thursday, he was indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury for having drugs that he was trying to hide in his cheeks when he was booked into the county jail on an involuntary manslaughter charge.
The new charges say that Huffman, 22, who has addresses on Willis and East Ravenwood avenues, had cocaine and heroin on the day he was booked into the jail Sept. 1 along with $565 cash.
He faces charges of illegal conveyance of drugs into a detention facility, a third-degree felony, and possession of cocaine and possession of heroin, which are fifth-degree felonies. The indictment also includes a forfeiture specification saying that the $565 was the result of illegal drug sales and should be forfeited to prosecutors.
In July, Huffman was one of 37 people indicted in connection with a large heroin ring operating in the city. He was a suspect in the overdose death of 56-year-old George Taylor, who was found dead May 2 inside an apartment in the 500 block of West Indianola Avenue, but he gave investigators a fake name, date of birth and Social Security number. All of that information belonged to his brother.
Eventually, police matched his booking photo relating to a 2014 arrest with a photo of him when he was interviewed as a suspect in the death of Taylor and were able to track him down.
He also faces two counts of possession of heroin from his indictment in July, according to court records.
In Taylor’s death, Huffman was indicted in late August on charges of involuntary manslaughter, possession of heroin and trafficking in heroin.