Mesa man sentenced to 9 year for selling fentanyl in fatal overdose

PHOENIX — A Mesa man was sentenced to nine years in prison for selling fentanyl that led to a fatal overdose, officials announced.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, 24-year-old Dominik Israel Lopez pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl resulting in death.

Lopez’s nine year prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.

“At the end of every drug overdose death are countless victims,” United States Attorney Timothy Courchaine said in the announcement. “There are the dead, taken too early, families who lose loved one and communities slowly being torn apart. This sentenced shows that the Department of Justice will pursue harsh penalties for all drug dealers. I am proud to stand alongside the victim’s family and our law enforcement partners in holding this defendant accountable.”

Details on the fentanyl sale and fatal overdose the Mesa man was sentenced for

Prosecutors said in March 2020, a man was found dead in his Gilbert apartment and the Maricopa County Medical Examiner determined his cause of death to be fentanyl toxicity.

Investigators discovered that the man had contacted Lopez on the messaging app Whisper and bought four fentanyl pills from him for $40.

According to prosecutors, the man only took one of the pills then overdosed and died.

“The Gilbert Police Department works in close partnership with law enforcement agencies in the ongoing fight against illegal drugs, including holding accountable those whose actions result in death through drug distribution,” Gilbert Police Chief Michael Soelberg said. “We remain steadfast in our relentless pursuit of those who victimize our community.”

Fentanyl is a man-made opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and just two milligrams of the drug is considered to be potentially fatal. Drug overdose and poisoning is the leading causing death for Americans aged 18 through 45, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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