LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A Los Angeles County woman was sentenced Tuesday to eight years and four months behind bars for distributing fentanyl to a man who suffered a fatal overdose of the powerful synthetic opioid at a Long Beach drug treatment facility in late 2021.
Jayleen Feusier, 37, of South Gate, pleaded guilty in March to one federal count of distribution of fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Feusier’s co-defendant, Juan Carlos Gutierrez, 34, of Montebello, was found guilty at trial in Los Angeles federal court of one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death and serious bodily injury, a felony that carries a sentence of between 20 years and life imprisonment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Evidence presented at the eight-day trial showed that Gutierrez on Dec. 9, 2021, distributed fentanyl to Feusier. Previously that night, Feusier, in exchange for $60, agreed to get fentanyl for the victim, a 34-year-old man who was residing at a Long Beach drug treatment facility.
Later that night, Feusier broke off a gram of the fentanyl that Gutierrez provided to her, packaged it in a small plastic baggie, and placed the baggie, a lighter, and drug paraphernalia into a small box, evidence showed.
She then placed the small box into a bag with a black T-shirt to mask the contents, ordered an Uber delivery service, and placed the item on the backseat of the vehicle to be delivered to the victim at the rehabilitation facility. Feusier then sent a link to the victim so he could track the Uber as it traveled to him, federal prosecutors said.
At around 11 p.m. that night, the victim jumped a fence and retrieved the package from the Uber vehicle then went back inside the drug treatment facility. About six hours later, the victim’s body was discovered inside the facility’s living room. The jury was told that drug paraphernalia sent by Feusier was discovered near the victim.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that the death was caused by a fentanyl overdose.
U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. scheduled an Oct. 15 sentencing hearing for Gutierrez, who has been in federal custody since May 2023.
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