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Penns Grove Man Sentenced to 10-Year Prison Term for Drug Trafficking

Carl Lee Holloway, of Penns Grove, previously pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of conspiring to distribute cocaine.

On May 31, 2023, a Salem County man received a sentence of 120 months in prison for conspiring with others to obtain and distribute several kilograms of cocaine, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Carl Lee Holloway, 43, of Penns Grove, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb to an information charging him with one count of conspiring to distribute cocaine. Judge Bumb imposed the sentence in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Holloway admitted that from June 2020 through July 13, 2021, he conspired with Lavinston Lamar, Marvin Murphy, and others, to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

On July 13, 2021, Holloway drove to a hotel in Mt. Laurel with a bag containing $97,600 in cash. Holloway then met undercover agents in a hotel room at the hotel. Lamar and Murphy separately entered the hotel room with bags containing approximately $243,000.

They briefly inspected one of the kilograms of cocaine previously brought into the room by undercover agents, after which agents entered the room and arrested Holloway, Lamar, and Murphy.

Chief Judge Bumb previously sentenced Lamar to 114 months in prison after Lamar pleaded guilty to his involvement in the same conspiracy and to violating the conditions of his supervised release from a prior conviction for conspiring to distribute cocaine.

Murphy is charged by indictment with the same conspiracy. The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Bumb sentenced Holloway to five years of supervised release and ordered him to pay a $50,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents with the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel in Newark and Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz in San Diego; and the Mount Laurel Police, under the direction of Chief Judy Lynn Schiavone, with the investigation leading to the sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.

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