Hardeeville man sent to prison for heroin trafficking after arrest at motel
A Hardeeville man was sentenced to nearly two decades in prison for a heroin trafficking conviction, according to the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Mark Elliot Martin Jr., 34, received a 20-year prison term after pleading guilty to heroin trafficking and a weapons offense, both felonies. He received credit for nearly 1,000 days already spent in jail, according to Jasper County court records, bringing his final sentence to just over 17 years.
Hardeeville police responded June 28, 2023, to a report of a missing girl who was believed to be staying with Martin at a local motel, according to a solicitor’s office press release.
Officers spotted two small children inside Martin’s vehicle as it arrived at the motel’s parking lot, along with an AK-style rifle and a handgun “in plain view,” the release said.
Martin was detained as police found 23 grams of heroin in his pocket, prosecutors said. Later executing a search warrant on his vehicle, officers seized multiple firearms, including a loaded handgun, according to the solicitor’s office.
Circuit Court Judge Robert Bonds handed down the sentence Tuesday in the Jasper County Courthouse.
Martin faces several additional drug charges that are pending in South Carolina and Georgia, prosecutors said.
“Drug-trafficking continues to pose a serious threat to public safety in our communities,” Assistant Solicitor Marshall Frodsham, who prosecuted the case, wrote in the press release. “In this case, the defendant not only possessed a significant amount of heroin; he also had multiple firearms readily accessible. This guilty plea holds him accountable and reflects the commitment by our office, as well as Hardeeville Police, to aggressively prosecute these serious crimes.”
