By: Tracie Carter
A Philadelphia man has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for his role in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy that ended with an undercover sting operation at a South Jersey hotel.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 50-year-old Marvin Murphy of Philadelphia was sentenced on June 24 to 97 months in federal prison after being convicted of conspiring to distribute cocaine. Chief U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb also imposed three years of supervised release and ordered Murphy to pay a $10,000 fine.
Murphy was found guilty following a two-day bench trial in March 2025 and has remained in custody since the verdict.
Federal prosecutors said the conspiracy unfolded between June and July 2021, when Murphy worked with Carl Lee Holloway, Lavinston Lamar, and others to arrange the purchase of at least 10 kilograms of cocaine.
The investigation revealed that Holloway traveled to San Diego to meet with an undercover federal agent posing as a drug supplier.
During the meeting, Holloway contacted Murphy by phone, and the two continued discussing the planned transaction over the following weeks.
On July 13, 2021, Murphy, Holloway, and Lamar arrived separately at a hotel in Mount Laurel carrying bags containing more than $340,000 in cash.
After briefly inspecting what they believed was cocaine inside a hotel room, undercover agents entered and arrested all three men.
Holloway was previously sentenced to 120 months in prison after pleading guilty to his role in the conspiracy.
Lamar was initially sentenced to 114 months, later reduced to 100 months, after pleading guilty to the drug conspiracy and violating the terms of his supervised release from an earlier federal cocaine trafficking conviction.
The case was investigated by federal law enforcement and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.