Two former U.S. Navy service members pleaded guilty this week to selling counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to active-duty sailors stationed in San Diego, including during their deployments, the Justice Department said.
The former sailors, Bailey A. Szramowski and Johnnese H. Poomaihealani, who are married and live in Hawaii, pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court in San Diego, where the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln is based. One sailor to whom Mr. Szramowski sold pills died of an overdose, and another was hospitalized, according to court records.
Mr. Szramowski, 29, provided an active-duty U.S. Navy service member assigned to the Lincoln with 10 such oxycodone pills in December 2022, court records show. The victim was identified by his initials A.N. in court records. He overdosed and died of acute fentanyl intoxication in January 2023.
At the time of his death, A.N. was on leave and staying in a recreational vehicle parked outside a home in San Leandro, Calif., that belonged to his aunt and uncle, records show.
Police officers said they found evidence of drug use at the scene, and a toxicology report indicated that A.N.’s blood had tested positive for the presence of fentanyl and THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis. A.N.’s autopsy report concluded that he died of “acute fentanyl intoxication.”
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Ten days later, Mr. Szramowski sold three more pills to another sailor, identified as C.L., according to records.
That sailor was hospitalized for a suspected overdose and survived. Mr. Szramowski and Ms. Poomaihealani, 25, called C.L. and instructed C.L. to tell the authorities that the pills were from A.N., court records show.
Agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service also learned that Mr. Szramowski had asked A.N.’s aunt and uncle to delete the messages on A.N.’s phone between himself and A.N.
“My client is extremely remorseful for everything that happened, especially the death of A.N., who was a good friend of theirs,” a lawyer for Ms. Poomaihealani, Michael Littman, said on Wednesday. “She has accepted responsibility for her limited involvement in this case and is anxious to go forward with her life after her separation from the Navy.”
A lawyer for Mr. Szramowski was not immediately available for comment.
The U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln has been in the news this year. It left San Diego on Nov. 21 and spent roughly nine months at sea in the Persian Gulf, supporting U.S. operations against Iran, without a port call for its crew of about 5,000 sailors. The ship is now returning to its home port in Southern California after a stopover in Thailand.
C.L. told investigators that A.N. and Mr. Szramowski had been selling Percocet pills, which were most likely counterfeit, court records show, to other sailors for about a year. He said Mr. Szramowski sold the pills aboard the carrier during a 2022 deployment and after the ship returned to San Diego.
According to C.L., Mr. Szramowski bought the pills through the mail, using a post office box in Coronado, Calif. He then charged sailors for the pills through a mobile payment app.
An N.C.I.S. investigation of A.N.’s smartphone showed that from September through December 2022, Mr. Szramowski and A.N. regularly discussed drug use and drug sales — including “perc[s],” “coca,” “coke,” “blow,” “vics,” “hydrocodone,” “lsd,” “shrooms” and “ecstasy.” They also occasionally filmed themselves using drugs, according to the inquiry.
Mr. Szramowski faces five to 40 years in federal prison and a $5 million fine, while Ms. Poomaihealani faces up to 20 years and a $1 million fine, according to the Justice Department. They will be sentenced in December.
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
