HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — The Department of Justice announced that a Baltimore man has been sentenced to nine years in prison after he pled guilty to obstructing a federal investigation into a triple Franklin County murder that occurred in 2016.

According to US Attorney Gerard M. Karam, 36-year-old Mark Johnson of Baltimore helped his brother, Christopher, and others attempt to prevent the investigation into the June 2016 murder of three people in a barn in Mercersburg, Franklin County.

One of the victims was providing information to DEA in Hagerstown, Maryland, and local Maryland law enforcement about drug trafficking in Hagerstown and elsewhere. Karam states that the murder was a contract killing.

The killer has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Kevin Coles, also from Maryland was convicted by a federal jury in 2022 of ordering the contract killing.

Johnson, however, was not involved in the murders or the planning of the murders but assisted his brother in avoiding apprehension by assisting and trying to locate and kill a co-defendant in the tripe murders who was believed to cooperate with federal authorities.

Along with Johnson, 10 other individuals have either pled guilty, have been found guilty, or are awaiting sentencing in connection with this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys William A. Behe and Michael Consiglio are prosecuting the
case.