Two people indicted in November 2024 for their roles in a cross-state heroin and cocaine distribution ring were given state prison sentences Friday in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Marki Marie Seezox, 36, was sentenced to serve 6 to 15 years after pleading guilty to charges in five drug cases, including the cross-state drug ring.

Amire Demone McLeod, 21, of Pittsburgh, was sentenced to 2 1/2 to 5 years after pleading guilty to felony charges of corrupt organizations and possession with intent to deliver.

They were among 17 people indicted by a statewide investigating grand jury for bringing large amounts of the drugs to Butler County from York County in 2023. Seezox was a local runner who delivered the drugs, according to an affidavit. McLeod was given a cellphone by his father, Jeffrey Alfonso Wilkins, 43, of York, when he was in prison, so McLeod could continue organizing drug sales, according to the affidavit.

Wilkins, who also was indicted and named as the ring leader, is being held in the Butler County Prison in lieu if $500,000 bail. He is scheduled to go on trial beginning Dec. 7 on 20 felony and misdemeanor charges, including possession with intent to deliver, conspiracy and corrupt organizations.

One of Seezox’s other cases stems from a December 2024 indictment by the same grand jury of nine Butler County residents for operating a drug ring that distributed large amounts of fentanyl and crack cocaine in the county.

According to that indictment, Seezox worked with James Thomas Matuke III, 37, of Butler, to distribute drugs. Matuke was indicted and is facing 17 felony and misdemeanor drug charges. His case remains active.

Remotely from the county jail, where she is being held in lieu of $350,000 in bail combined in the two grand jury cases, Seezox addressed the court before Judge Maura Palumbi imposed the sentences.

Seezox said she had a good upbringing and had no excuse for using drugs. She said she made the dean’s list as a freshman at Duquesne University, but quit college and began using drugs with a friend. She said she started “shooting” cocaine when she was 19.

“My life has been consumed by drugs since then,” Seezox said.

She said she was clean for a year until her boyfriend, whom she has a son with, died from an overdose in bed next to her, and then she relapsed. She said she has two sons, and has been in and out of drug rehabilitation over the years.

Since April 2024, when she was placed in the county jail, Seezox said she has completed the “Hope is Dope” recovery program and other recovery programs. She asked to be admitted into the state drug treatment program while she is in prison so she can complete her recovery and be a good mother to her children, who are now 13 and 10 years old, when she gets out.

Before imposing the sentences, Palumbi said Seezox does not qualify for the treatment program because one of the cases against her involves over 1,000 grams of drugs.

Seezox was sentenced to concurrently serve 72 to 180 months in prison in the two grand jury cases, and ordered to pay $4,773 in crime lab fees in addition to court costs.

The three other cases stemmed from incidents in Butler in 2017 and 2019. The prison sentences are concurrent with the grand jury cases. Two sentences were 3 to 6 months and the third was 12 to 24 months. All three included $300 fines. She received credit for 836 days already served in prison.

McLeod had minor involvement in the conspiracy, and would benefit from the boot camp program run by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, said his attorney Joseph Hudak.

Deputy Attorney General Kara Lynn Cotter did not object to McLeod entering the program. Palumbi said she would recommend his acceptance, even though he doesn’t qualify for it. McLeod’s sentence included 36 months of probation after his release from prison. He was given credit for 578 days served.

State police filed charges in all the cases against Seezox and the case against McLeod. Both grand jury indictment cases were prosecuted by the attorney general’s office. The Butler County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the three other cases.