NorCal man who sold pills to teen gets prison after fatal overdose
Edward Tellez Solis, 27, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, distribution of fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of California announced Monday.
Tellez Solis, of Marina (Monterey County), used social media to advertise and sell drugs, including counterfeit oxycodone pills, known as M30 pills, that were laced with fentanyl, the attorney's office said. Prosecutors said Tellez Solis also sold cocaine, ecstasy, hydrocodone, marijuana and Xanax.
Law enforcement said Tellez Solis used Snapchat and Telegram to reach customers.
'Edward Tellez Solis used social media as a superhighway to sell lethal drugs and line his pockets with the proceeds,' Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris said in a statement.
On March 3, 2022, Tellez Solis offered to sell a 15-year-old more than a dozen M30 pills, prosecutors said, delivering at least nine of the pills to the teenager the next day. Prosecutors said Tellez Solis knew that the pills 'contained fentanyl or some other federally controlled substance.'
The 15-year-old had an overdose and died after getting the M30 pills, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Police searched Tellez Solis' car and found a 'stash of controlled substances,' as well as a loaded gun, three loaded magazines and 89 rounds of ammunition, prosecutors said. Law enforcement also found more than $17,000 in cash in Tellez Solis' car and nearly $100,000 in cash in his home, the attorney's office said.
'Today's sentencing marks a crucial step in bringing justice to the victim and a family devastated by the scourge of fentanyl,' Beris said. 'We will be relentless in our pursuit of unscrupulous drug dealers who distribute poison in our community.'
On top of his prison time, Tellez Solis was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay nearly $30,000 to the family of the 15-year-old who fatally overdosed.
'While this sentence brings a measure of justice to the community for this crime, it can never undo the pain and devastation the defendant's reprehensible actions caused the victim's family,' United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian said in a statement.
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