SAN DIEGO (CNS) - An Escondido man who sold fentanyl-laced pills to a Camp Pendleton Marine, leading to the victim's fatal overdose, was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in federal prison.
Kyle Anthony Shephard, 29, pleaded guilty earlier this year to selling four pills containing the powerful synthetic opioid to the unidentified 25-year-old U.S. Marine corporal in 2017. The victim's body was found in his barracks room at Camp Pendleton by fellow Marines who checked on him when he wasn't responding to phone calls or knocks at his door, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Shephard was arrested by San Diego County sheriff's deputies nearly a year later at a local casino. Inside his hotel room, investigators found 1,362 pills containing fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which said a co-conspirator admitted to police that she and Shephard knew they were selling one of the "deadliest drugs."
Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said, "Another young life has been lost and a family destroyed because of fentanyl. Drug dealers who know their actions could have this outcome, and yet they peddle their poison anyway, must pay a stiff price."
