Reading Man Sentenced For Drug Trafficking And Firearms Offenses

SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced John Fidanqui-Marten, age 21, formerly of Reading, was sentenced to serve 14 years imprisonment to be followed by five years supervised released based upon his previously entered guilty plea to distributing five grams or more of methamphetamine and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.  In addition, he was ordered to pay $3,500 in restitution, as well as a $300 special assessment. According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Fidanqui-Marten engaged in the large-scale distribution of methamphetamine in 2020. During the course of a drug sale for one pound of methamphetamine in September 2020, he and co-defendant Damar Coad pointed handguns at an undercover police officer and robbed him of $7,500. When the police attempted to apprehend Fidanqui-Marten and Coad, a high-speed car chase ensued and Fidanqui-Marten drove into a ditch and was apprehended in possession of a .9mm handgun and $4,000 of the buy money used to purchase the drugs. Coad was sentenced on July 18, 2023, to seven years’ imprisonment to be followed by three years’ supervised release.