A Montebello man has been sentenced to more than 33 years in prison for supplying a woman with a fatal dose of fentanyl, officials announced Friday.
Edwin Oliva, 30, was sentenced after pleading guilty last September to one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death and one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. He had been in federal custody since March 2019.
Oliva gave the victim a line of drugs to snort on Feb. 28, 2019, but didn’t tell her the substance was fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.
“Believing the substance to be cocaine, the victim ingested the drug, which resulted in a fatal overdose,” officials said in a news release.
Oliva texted a friend that the victim was not breathing, but didn’t call 911 for six hours. After alerting authorities, he cleaned his apartment, removing the fentanyl and other evidence of drug sales, officials said.
He then placed the items in his car and drove away from the apartment in an attempt to hide evidence from law enforcement.
Montebello police later found more than 4 pounds of heroin, 21 grams of fentanyl, more than 3 pounds of marijuana, 0.4 grams of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, a loaded .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, a blue flip phone he used to conduct drug transactions and a notebook used as a pay/owe ledger in Oliva’s vehicle.
Once he was in custody, Oliva apparently asked his significant other to destroy evidence in the case and directed her to tell police that the phone they found in his car was a play phone for their children.
The case was investigated by the Montebello Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.