{"id":465417,"date":"2026-09-16T08:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/465417\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T08:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:48:18","slug":"former-san-diego-sailors-plead-guilty-to-selling-deadly-fentanyl-laced-pills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/465417\/","title":{"rendered":"Former San Diego sailors plead guilty to selling deadly fentanyl-laced pills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two former San Diego sailors pleaded guilty this week to selling pills laced with fentanyl to fellow sailors, federal prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Bailey Szramowski, 29, and Johnnese Poomaihealani, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, according to the San Diego assistant U.S. attorney, Keith Ellison.<\/p>\n

The pair were assigned to the San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln where, in 2022, Szramowski routinely sold pills to sailors \u2014 including during deployment, one witness told investigators.<\/p>\n

Szramowski and Poomaihealani are married, the U.S. Attorney’s Office told KPBS.<\/p>\n

\"Seaman<\/p>\n

Petty Officer 3rd Class Clayton A. Wren<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

U.S. Navy<\/p>\n

Seaman Bailey Szramowski aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln during deployment on June 6, 2022.<\/p>\n

In December 2022, Szramowski sold counterfeit oxycodone pills to an unnamed sailor who later died by overdose.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say Szramowski then sold pills to another sailor knowing they had already proven deadly.<\/p>\n

The second sailor also overdosed and was hospitalized. They then agreed to cooperate with authorities, court records say.<\/p>\n

\"Seaman<\/p>\n

Petty Officer 3rd Class Thaddeus Berry<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

U.S. Navy<\/p>\n

Seaman Apprentice Johnnese Poomaihealani on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during deployment on May 6, 2022.<\/p>\n

Szramowski faces a minimum of five to 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine.<\/p>\n

Poomaihealani faces up to 20 years and a $1 million fine, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two former San Diego sailors pleaded guilty this week to selling pills laced with fentanyl to fellow sailors,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-465417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}