{"id":262199,"date":"2026-05-07T16:17:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/262199\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T16:17:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:17:28","slug":"fentanyl-related-death-federal-jury-convicts-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/262199\/","title":{"rendered":"Fentanyl-related death: Federal jury convicts two"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 A federal jury has convicted two Tampa men of distributing fentanyl that caused the death of a University of South Florida student, according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Middle District of Florida.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Prosecutors said Miguel Cintron, 38, and Darrius Gustafson, 22, were found guilty of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl resulting in death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Each faces a minimum sentence of 20 years and up to life in federal prison. Sentencing dates have not been scheduled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">According to testimony and evidence presented during trial, Cintron, Gustafson, David Chudhabuddhi and Marquis Trant distributed a lethal amount of fentanyl that resulted in the death of the student, identified in court documents as \u201cVictim-1.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Prosecutors said the group continued distributing fentanyl to undercover deputies and detectives with the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office after the student\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Authorities arrested all four suspects on April 10, 2024. Investigators said a search warrant executed at Cintron\u2019s residence uncovered more than seven kilograms of cocaine and fentanyl, along with more than $200,000 in cash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Federal prosecutors said Chudhabuddhi and Trant previously pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced June 18.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">The case was investigated by the USF Police Department, the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\">Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\">click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wftvapps.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778170648_968_APP DOWNLOAD LOCAL_1541693885678.jpg_13622062_ver1.0.jpg\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 A federal jury has convicted two Tampa men of distributing fentanyl that caused the death&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[6275,9689,4204,694,32909,7330,9691,558,3974,4033,8219,12627,9693,265,3977,7920,1327,9694,9695,2161,3980,9696,16783,9697,2785,57561,9698,9699,9701,97919,3985,712,9702,3986,84293,128,9703,9704,718,9705,3993,44453,4001,9708,135,137,136,1934,32911,9709,9710,9711],"class_list":["post-262199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-attorney","tag-auction","tag-authority","tag-background","tag-barrister","tag-book","tag-brown","tag-business","tag-concept","tag-constitution","tag-court","tag-courthouse","tag-courtroom","tag-crime","tag-criminal","tag-decision","tag-document","tag-equality","tag-gavel","tag-government","tag-guilt","tag-hammer","tag-horizontal","tag-innocence","tag-judge","tag-judgement","tag-judgment","tag-judicial","tag-juridical","tag-jurisdiction","tag-justice","tag-law","tag-lawyer","tag-legal","tag-legal-system","tag-legislation","tag-litigation","tag-mallet","tag-order","tag-prosecution","tag-punishment","tag-right","tag-symbol","tag-system","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-trial","tag-tribunal","tag-verdict","tag-wood","tag-wooden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}