On July 10, 2023, Maleik Christopher Moody, 28, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty to several charges before Judge Mary M. Kramer of the Howard County Circuit Court, including participating in a criminal organization, knowingly distributing fentanyl, and the possession of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. Moody was sentenced to 30 years of incarceration, with all but 10 years suspended, and will serve the first five years of that sentence without the possibility of parole. Moody was the last remaining defendant to be sentenced among the six charged in this investigation. All other defendants had previously pleaded guilty.
The case originated from an investigation by the Howard County Police Department into a nonfatal opioid overdose that occurred in its jurisdiction. The continued investigation, led by the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Unit, the Howard County Police Department, and the Strike Force 7 Group, led by the Maryland State Police, linked the overdose to as many as six additional overdoses in Maryland and Virginia, including at least one fatal overdose. During the investigation, detectives seized more than one kilogram of fentanyl and six handguns, observed hundreds of hand-to-hand drug transactions in multiple jurisdictions, and intercepted communications confirming the distribution of large amounts of fentanyl throughout Maryland.