A Mexican Mafia associate was sentenced to a lengthy prison term Tuesday in San Diego federal court in a case that highlighted one way in which drugs can make it by mail into San Diego County jails, which have been plagued by deaths and overdoses for more than a decade.
Marquella “Pecas” Marshall, a 41-year-old former San Diego resident who relocated to Texas, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for leading a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy. Prosecutors said Marshall is a member of a San Diego street gang and a high-ranking associate of the Mexican Mafia, the largest prison gang in the U.S.
Marsha “Lazy” De la Cruz, a 47-year-old Lemon Grove resident, was sentenced to four years in prison for her role in the same conspiracy. De la Cruz’s attorney said she knew Marshall through their memberships in the same street gang, but “is not and never has been an associate of the Mexican Mafia.”
Marshall’s attorney did not respond Wednesday to a message seeking comment.
Prosecutors said Marshall on several occasions mailed paper that had been soaked in liquid methamphetamine to inmates at George Bailey Detention Facility, a county jail in Otay Mesa. She typically disguised the packages as legal documents, labeling them with return addresses for attorneys who were not involved in the scheme and unaware their names and addresses had been used. Prosecutors said intercepted phone calls also showed Marshall was attempting to send drug-soaked documents to an inmate at the downtown San Diego federal jail.
The investigation, which began in March 2021 and also resulted in separate prosecutions of other Mexican Mafia associates, revealed that Marshall was a “secretary” for the prison gang who advocated for several murders. According to prosecutors, her title meant she held a “unique position of power” within the Mexican Mafia, a hierarchical organization made up of a relatively small number of “made” members and a vast array of associates from street gangs in Southern California and elsewhere.
As a secretary, Marshall was handpicked by a “carnal” — a made member at the very highest level of the gang — to “communicate on his behalf, collect and launder money, handle drug transactions and relay orders to gang members both in and out of custody,” prosecutors wrote in a trial brief.
Though she pleaded guilty to the single drug conspiracy charge, prosecutors said the investigation “revealed evidence of Marshall’s extensive involvement in other” Mexican Mafia-related criminal activity.
“Marshall used her position and authority to order numerous assaults, sell drugs … collect extortion money on behalf of the (Mexican Mafia), and participate in other violent acts like robbery,” prosecutors wrote in sentencing documents. “Furthermore, beyond assaults and beatings, Marshall also sought and advocated for the murder of various individuals.”
Records in the case allege Marshall sent documents soaked in liquid methamphetamine to inmates at George Bailey on at least a half-dozen occasions over the last few months of 2021. Investigators intercepted several of those packages, as well as a package containing methamphetamine that De la Cruz tried to mail from San Diego to Marshall in Texas.
Intercepted phone calls also revealed that Marshall had ordered several assaults inside San Diego jails to assert the Mexican Mafia’s control over the local jail system.
“Drug smuggling and use in prisons result in overdose, violence, and power struggles,” San Diego U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in a statement. “These significant sentences are a strike against the prison drug culture which puts guards and staff at risk and exists in large part because of dangerous gangs like the Mexican Mafia.”
San Diego County jails, operated by the Sheriff’s Department, have historically seen some of the highest mortality rates among large California counties — with some of the deaths, though not all, attributed to drug overdoses. According to a state audit, 185 people died in Sheriff’s Department jail custody between 2006 and 2020.
There were 18 deaths in San Diego County jails in 2021, 20 in 2022 and 13 last year.
