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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Cerritos drug trafficker was sentenced Friday to over 22 years behind bars for narcotics and firearms offenses, including providing fentanyl to a victim who later ingested the powerful synthetic opioid and died.
Shaun Alan Rosa, 45, was sentenced to 270 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez.
Rosa pleaded guilty in July to one count each of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and to maintain a drug-involved premises, possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and distribution of fentanyl. He has been in federal custody since September 2019.
According to court documents, from April 2015 to March 2018, Rosa directed an associate to rent and maintain an apartment in San Pedro for the purpose of storing and distributing narcotics and firearms. Other associates, including the victim, provided illegal drugs such as cocaine, Ecstasy, and fentanyl to Rosa for further distribution.
Rosa then directed a co-conspirator to pick up narcotics from other members of the conspiracy, transport the drugs to the San Pedro apartment and later distribute the drugs to other conspirators and to pick up money from these conspirators as payment for the drugs, according to papers filed in Los Angeles federal court.
Rosa admitted in his plea agreement that, in June 2017 in Long Beach, he knowingly gave pills containing fentanyl to a co-conspirator, identified in court documents at M.E. The victim later ingested the pills, which led to his fatal overdose.
"Despite knowing about the tragic death of M.E. from a fentanyl overdose, defendant continued to distribute controlled substances, including the exceedingly dangerous drug of fentanyl," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
In March 2018, at the San Pedro apartment, Rosa possessed about a half pound of fentanyl, 8.76 pounds of Ecstasy, two firearms, 49 rounds of ammunition, and drug paraphernalia, including digital scales and a pill press, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.