Dimethylpentylone

By Zak Failla From Daily Voice

A DC man who led investigators on multiple high-speed chases through Maryland before ditching a box of what he thought was 10 kilos of “boot” will spend more than a decade in prison, federal prosecutors announced.

Marvin Benjamin Martin, 32, was sentenced to 140 months in prison for attempting to possess a mass shipment of dipentylone, an illegal psychostimulant known as “boot,” according to the US Attorney’s Office for DC. 

Martin pleaded guilty on July 11, 2025 — one day before the scheduled jury trial — to attempted possession with intent to distribute N,N Dimethylpentylone hydrochloride.

The case started in early 2024, when Homeland Security Investigations tracked illegal synthetic drug shipments coming from China, officials said. 

In February 2024, Customs and Border Protection officers seized a package at the International Mail Facility at Los Angeles International Airport. 

Prosecutors said the package, mailed from China and addressed to “Martin Hall” on 58th Street SE, contained 10 kilos of boot. HSI agents replaced the drugs with sham material and installed a GPS tracking device before delivering the package on March 7, 2024. 

Officers watched as Martin retrieved the box around 11:27 a.m., carried it to his vehicle, and drove off, according to court documents.

About an hour later, investigators said Martin dumped the empty package but kept the contents he believed were real drugs. 

At 12:37 p.m., officers tracked him to a residential neighborhood in Maryland and tried to detain him. Martin sped off, crashing into a minivan and a fence before getting away, according to prosecutors.

Agents found him again at a home in Lanham. 

When officers tried to block him in, Martin “accelerated his car towards the agents, striking the front side of an agent’s vehicle at high speed,” according to the DOJ. He escaped again.

Roughly two hours later, investigators said they found Martin at the same Lanham home — this time in a different car, a Mercedes sedan. 

Officers blocked the road, but Martin "again drove his car towards the agents at a high speed.” Prosecutors said he swerved onto a sidewalk, hit a tree, and still managed to accelerate past officers and escape.

On April 10, 2024, Martin was arrested in Annapolis. 

Investigators said they recovered evidence from his phones showing “that he had been selling boot and other narcotics for years leading up to his arrest.”

Agents also found that Martin paid “about $40,000 to $50,000” for the box of 10 kilos and planned to sell it for “anywhere between $125 to $200 an ounce,” according to prosecutors. 

Investigators said his phones also contained DOJ press release links to other boot trafficking convictions that he shared with others, showing his knowledge of the drug’s illegality.

In addition to his prison term, a judge also ordered that Martin serve three years of supervised release.