A Southern California man who sold opioid-laced pills to a Camp Pendleton Marine, resulting in the soldier's fatal overdose, was sentenced on Wednesday to 14 years in federal prison.
Kyle Anthony Shephard, 29, of Escondido, pleaded guilty earlier this year to selling four pills federal prosecutors said contained fentanyl to an unnamed 25-year-old Marine corporal in 2017. The victim's body was discovered in his barrack at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in northern San Diego County by fellow Marines.
"Another young life has been lost and a family destroyed because of fentanyl," said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Randy Grossman in a statement. "Drug dealers who know their actions could have this outcome, and yet they peddle their poison anyway, must pay a stiff price."
Shephard was arrested nearly a year later while staying at a local casino. Investigators found over 1,300 pills containing fentanyl in his hotel room, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
A co-conspirator allegedly told prosecutors Shephard knew he was selling some of the "deadliest drugs."