Tustin man gets more than 17 years in prison for selling Fentanyl that killed a victim

Anthony Bernard Fender, a 32-year-old Tustin resident, was sentenced on Monday to more than 17 years in federal prison for selling a dose of fentanyl that killed a victim at a Lake Forest motel. The maximum punishment Fender faced was 20 years in prison.

Fender pleaded guilty in March to possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl in connection with an overdose that killed a 40-year-old man on March 9, 2021, in the parking lot of Town Place Suites in Lake Forest, according to prosecutors. Fender sold two grams of fentanyl that the victim overdosed on, prosecutors said.

Fender, 31, of Tustin, was arrested pursuant to a grand jury indictment that alleged that he sold fentanyl powder that resulted in the death of a 40-year-old man.

The indictment further alleged that Fender committed the federal offense after being convicted of a drug trafficking crime in Orange County Superior Court in 2013.

Fender was himself a drug addict and he sold drugs so he could support his own addiction, according to the prosecutors. They also said that he “knew the dangers of fentanyl use, had overdosed twice himself on opioids, and kept Narcan in his room.” Narcan is used to save those who overdose.

The DEA and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigated this matter, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bradley Marrett.