Man Sentenced 12.5 Years For Selling Fentanyl That Caused At Least One Fatal Overdose
GAITHERSBURG, MD. (WJZ) — A 34-year-old Gaithersburg man was sentenced to 150 months-- or 12.5 years-- in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release for a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, heroin and cocaine and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to his plea agreement, from at least January 2017 through February 2017, Leandro Acevedo Lozada, aka "Dro" conspired with Bradley Wade Seabolt and others to distribute fentanyl, heroin and cocaine through street-level drug dealers.
Although Lozada said he was not certain of the exact chemicals in the opioids he sold to Seabolt and others, he said he knew that the substance was bright white in color and very strong.
Because of this, Lozada said he suspected that it was fentanyl, and because the opioids were so strong, he used powdered sugar to dilute them.
On January 11, 2017, EMS responded to a victim's home in Montgomery County where they were found unresponsive. The victim later died. They had ingested fentanyl distributed by Seabolt, who got it from Lozada.
On February 17, 2017, law enforcement executed search warrants at a home in Damascus and a home in Gaithersburg, where Lozada spent time during the course of this conspiracy and kept various property.
Officers seized around 147 grams of a substance that contained detectable amounts of both fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl, approximately 23 grams of cocaine; a bag of powdered sugar that Lozada used as a cutting agent for his opioids; $4,452,000, a digital scale that Lozada used to weigh and process narcotics for sale and a loaded handgun that belonged to Lozada.
He also knowing and intentionally had a handgun, manufactured outside of Maryland and all of the narcotics mentioned above, which he intended to distribute.
Lozada had been convicted of a crime where he served more than one year in prison, which prohibited him from legally possessing a gun or any ammunition.
Seabolt, 30, of Gaithersburg, was sentenced to two years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.