A Chula Vista man was sentenced to nearly 16 years in prison Tuesday for selling fentanyl-laced pills that caused the death of a 20- year-old man.
Jonathan Mefford, 24, pleaded guilty last year to federal charges for selling counterfeit pills to the victim on Oct. 29, 2018.
According to the prosecution's sentencing papers, the victim, identified in court documents as J.P., was found unresponsive the following day by his mother at the family's Chula Vista home.
The U.S. Attorney's Office alleges that Mefford sold pills through social media and that his product not only killed J.P., but led to another person's overdose, though that victim survived. Prosecutors allege that after both overdoses, Mefford continued selling counterfeit pills "for months."
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In addition to pleading guilty to selling pills in connection with the fatal overdose, Mefford also admitted to moving "multi-pound level quantities of methamphetamine from San Diego to Kansas," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which said Mefford distributed the meth "to various individuals" while in Kansas.
