SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KRON) - A federal judge sentenced a Santa Rosa woman to more than six years in prison after supplying fentanyl to the father of a 13-month-old boy leading to the death of the father and son.
Two others were also convicted in this case for playing a role in selling the drugs to 29-year-old Patrick O'Neill back in 2019.
It was then that KRON4 News unknowingly interviewed the person who federal authorities say sold the drugs to O'Neill.
More than two years have passed since the death of O'Neill and his then 13-month old son, Liam, who lived in Santa Rosa.
The two died after coming into contact with fentanyl in September of 2019.
On Wednesday, the last of three defendants, Leanna Zamora, was sentenced to more than six years in prison after being convicted of supplying fentanyl that was later sold to O'Neill.
Authorities say that fentanyl was originally sold to Lindsay Williams who gave it to a man named Shane Cratty, someone we interviewed back in 2019 right after the toddler's death.
“Almost positive Pat had been clean for a number of months at this point and I think it was probably the first time he had used the drug and you know it could've fallen out of his pocket, like I don't really know,” Cratty told KRON4.
At the time, Cratty claimed to be a family friend of O'Neills but we later learned he was the one who directly delivered the fentanyl to the baby's father, according to prosecutors.
Meanwhile, Cratty was sending this message to viewers at the time:
“You should really not use at all. It's very dangerous depending on how potent, how pure one little speck like a grain of sand can kill you.”
Cratty was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in fentanyl distribution.
Prosecutors say the fentanyl in question was originally bought from a Honduran drug dealer in San Francisco's Tenderloin District, a place known for its open-air drug market.
“San Francisco's basically ground zero for the drug crisis in the United States,” Tom Wolf said.
Former addict and now recovery advocate, Tom Wolf, says we need to do more to crack down on this activity in the city.
Last month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved an emergency declaration that addresses the overdose epidemic in the Tenderloin.
“I think one of the metrics that we need to look at over the next three months as this emergency declaration goes on is whether or not accidental overdose deaths drop in San Francisco,” Wolf said.
City Supervisor Matt Haney says law enforcement, the district attorney, and state will all need to work together to go after the leaders of these larger criminal organizations.
“Problem I see is that either they arrest somebody and they're back out in the street or that person is easily replaced and so the deeper solutions to this problem to both get people off fentanyl so we reduce this demand so it's not so profitable and then going after the higher level, bigger fish so they're not able to bring drugs in an unimpeded way into our neighborhoods,” Supervisor Haney said.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/3n2lQnK
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