FARGO (KFGO) – A jury was seated and opening arguments were made Tuesday in the federal trial of Marie Um, the woman accused of being a co-conspirator in one of the largest fentanyl distribution cases ever to be tried in North Dakota.
Um, also known as Angry Bird, was indicted in 2017 for conspiracy to distribute and import controlled substances that resulted in serious bodily injury or death and international money laundering conspiracy. In 2021, she was one of three Canadian nationals from Quebec to be extradited to the U.S. for their roles in an organization that distributed fentanyl and fentanyl analogues from Canada and China.
In his opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Myers said Um was a critical component of the organization, specifically serving as the “outside help” for the two primary Canadian traffickers who were operating out of a prison in Quebec. Um is accused of mailing packages of pills to the United States and recruiting her brother and another woman to aid in the conspiracy. Myers said Um was caught setting fire to receipts that were evidence of the drug and money laundering scheme when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police served a search warrant on her home.
The overarching investigation, dubbed “Operation Denial,” started on Jan. 3, 2015, with the overdose death in Grand Forks of 18-year-old Bailey Henke. Multiple defendants in the case have already been convicted, and a number of them are expected to testify at Um’s trial as cooperating witnesses for the Government. Last year two co-defendants were sentenced to 30-plus-year prison terms for their roles in the conspiracy.
On Aug. 31, 2021, the U.S. Department of State offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of the primary supplier of the fentanyl – People’s Republic of China national Zhang Jian, aka Hong Kong Zaron. He has not been captured.
The transnational investigation was conducted in the U.S. by the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force and involved agents in Florida, Oregon, and North Dakota.
Prosecutors claim the co-conspirators’ distribution ring in Canada and the United States resulted in 15 overdoses in North Dakota, Oregon, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Rhode Island, including four fatal overdoses.
Um’s trial is slated to last four weeks, with 67 witnesses expected to testify. Myers is prosecuting the case and Ted Sandberg of Grand Forks is Um’s defense attorney. Chief District Court Judge Peter D. Welte will preside.
