A Seaside man has been sentenced to eight years in federal jail for distributing fentanyl that brought on overdoses in two individuals and killed one, the Division of Justice Northern California District introduced on Tuesday.
Xavier Robledo, 21, pleaded responsible on Feb. 8 to 2 counts of distributing fentanyl, admitting that on two separate events in 2020 he offered counterfeit, fentanyl-laced tablets often known as “M30” tablets, in keeping with a press launch from federal prosecutors. M30 tablets are gentle blue with an “M” imprinted on one facet and “30” printed on the different.
“M30 tablets offered on the road are sometimes laced with fentanyl, an inexpensive and lethal substitute,” United States Lawyer Stephanie M. Hinds mentioned within the press launch. “These counterfeit tablets mimic Oxycodone, however they are often killers in disguise. The mismeasurement of even a microgram of fentanyl can have deadly penalties. We urge all to steer clear of fentanyl offered on the road in any type it takes.”
In mid-April 2020, Robledo organized the sale of three M30 tablets by way of cellphone messages to a buyer to whom he had beforehand offered the counterfeit tablets, Robledo admitted in his plea settlement. Robledo personally delivered the M30 tablets to this buyer, who, consequently, suffered a fentanyl overdose however was later in a position to get well.
Although this individual is just recognized as “Particular person 1” in Robledo’s plea settlement, in keeping with federal prosecutors, the unique grievance introduced forth towards Robledo in 2020 described Pacific Grove Police Division officers responding to reviews of an unresponsive Pacific Grove minor on April 16 earlier that yr. Paramedics arrived and administered Naloxone, at which level the juvenile turned responsive and was transported to a neighborhood hospital. The incident prompted the preliminary investigation.
Robledo additional admitted in his plea settlement that in early Might 2020, he once more offered an M30 pill that he knew contained fentanyl. He offered this M30 to a distinct individual recognized within the plea settlement as “Particular person 2,” to whom Robledo had offered and delivered medicine simply two weeks beforehand at a drug rehabilitation facility the place Robledo knew Particular person 2 was present process therapy.
Within the early Might sale, Robledo organized the sale to Particular person 2 utilizing cellphone messages, and Robledo delivered the M30 to Particular person 2 at his home. Just a few hours later, Particular person 2 ingested the M30 tablet, inflicting a fentanyl overdose. Legislation enforcement officers discovered Particular person 2 in an unresponsive state and transported him to a hospital. Particular person 2 continued to be unresponsive. On or about Might 8, 2020, Particular person 2 died, recognized as a 20-year-old man from Carmel Valley within the unique grievance towards Robledo.
Robledo admitted in his plea settlement that Particular person 2 died because of the fentanyl within the M30 that Robledo offered him.
An investigation into a number of leads — together with these obtained by wanting into the victims’ Snapchat communications arranging to buy M30 tablets — allowed investigators to establish and finally arrest Robledo on June 16, 2020. He made his first look in federal courtroom in San Francisco on June 17, 2020.
Along with a 96-month jail time period, U.S. District Decide Beth L. Freeman ordered Robledo to pay for Particular person 2’s funeral prices, together with different restitution. After serving his eight-year sentence, Robledo will probably be on three years of supervised launch.
Fentanyl is an artificial opioid 80-100 instances stronger than morphine that's typically blended with different medicine together with heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine to create a mixture product, in keeping with the DEA. With a deadly dosage of solely about 2 milligrams, nonetheless, even a slight cross-contamination — with or with out the consumer’s information — can have lethal penalties.
“The loss of life and destruction attributable to fentanyl is aware of no boundaries. From coast to coast this poison is devastating households,” Drug Enforcement Administration Particular Agent in Cost Wade R. Shannon mentioned in a press release. “Holding accountable these, like Robledo, who wreck lives with their felony actions is our precedence.”