Woman pleads guilty to distributing fentanyl that led to Bellingham boy’s overdose death
A Mount Vernon woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl in Whatcom and Skagit counties that led to two overdoses, including the death of a Bellingham 17-year-old in 2019.
Rosaliana Lopez-Rodriguez, 22, faces a prison term of between five and 40 years after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle, according to a U.S. Department of Justice release.
Lopez-Rodriguez and her alleged supplier, Jiovanni Alejandro Nunez, 21, were arrested, and on Dec. 4, 2019, they were charged with possession of narcotics with intent to distribute.
According to court records in the case, the Bellingham boy was found unresponsive on Nov. 9, 2019, and, despite emergency responders’ efforts to resuscitate him, he died. His cause of death was determined to be a fentanyl overdose.
Investigators found a whole and a partial pill near the victim, the release states, and the pills were designed to look like oxycodone 30-milligram pills, with an “M” and “30” stamped on them. But the pills were tainted with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that is 50- to 100-times more potent than morphine, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Similar pills had been linked to other overdoses and deaths in the Puget Sound region, according to the release, including a 17-year-old friend of the Bellingham victim, who nearly died after smoking one of the pills Nov. 1, 2019.
Lopez-Rodriguez knew of that near-fatal overdose when she sold the victim the pills eight days later, the release states.
As part of her plea agreement, Lopez-Rodriguez admitted to selling fentanyl pills to an undercover officer, according to the release. Lopez-Rodriguez stated that she received the pills from Nunez.
Law enforcement found 2½ fentanyl pills in Lopez-Rodriguez’s bedroom, according to the release, and at Nunez’ home they found a safe containing hundreds of fake oxycodone pills that matched the appearance of the fentanyl-laced pills linked to the Bellingham boy’s death.
Lopez-Rodriguez said that Nunez provided her with the pills that led to the boy’s death, documents state.
Lopez-Rodriguez will be sentenced by Chief Judge Ricardo S. Martinez on April 16. Under the terms of her plea agreement, the release states the prosecution and defense will each recommend a prison term of between five and eight years.
Nunez is scheduled to stand trial in May.
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, Drug Enforcement Administration, Whatcom County Drug and Gang Task Force, Bellingham Police Department, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 1:27 PM.
CORRECTION: The spelling of Jiovanni Nunez’s name was corrected on June 29, 2021.
