LOS ANGELES
A Sylmar man plead guilty Friday to two drug trafficking offenses, saying he advertised the sale of drugs on Snapchat, according to federal officials.
Gustavo Jaciel Solis admitted that in a 2020 transaction he sold bogus oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl that caused a U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton to suffer a fatal overdose, officials stated
Solis, 25, plead guilty in federal court to his involvement in a drug trafficking conspiracy and distributing fentanyl resulting in death.
U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee is scheduled to sentence Solis on August 17.
Solis is facing up to life in prison.
Solis was charged in 2020, along with an active-duty United States Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton and two other alleged co-conspirators, with being part of a ring that distributed narcotics to civilians and members of the United States Marine Corps, officials stated.
In a plea agreement filed Tuesday, Solis admitted that he “would advertise his controlled substances for sale through his Snapchat account username, ‘huf_75,’ and display name, ‘Gusto928.’ [Solis] would provide various controlled substances, including LSD, MDMA, cocaine, and purported oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, to customers directly, through couriers, or through the United States mail.”
On May 22, 2020, after obtaining approximately 1,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl from a co-defendant, Solis admitted using his Snapchat account to advertise the pills by posting a picture of several pills with the caption, “Who f*** with M30s? Tapp in.”
Solis subsequently sold about 10 of the counterfeit oxycodone pills, federal officials stated. A 20-year-old U.S. Marine identified in court papers as “L.M.” died after consuming some of the fentanyl-laced pills, federal officials stated.
Solis also admitted in his plea agreement to orchestrating other narcotics transactions, some of which were conducted with an undercover agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
The transactions with the undercover agent involved several types of narcotics, including counterfeit oxycodone containing fentanyl, cocaine, and LSD.
Solis was arrested on July 29, 2020, at which time investigators seized narcotics and several firearms – including a 9mm “ghost gun” – from his residence. Solis has remained in federal custody since his arrest.
A superseding indictment filed in September 2020 named Solis and four other defendants, who are:
• Jordan Nicholas McCormick, 27, of Palmdale, the lead defendant and the conspiracy’s alleged supplier who provided LSD, ecstasy, cocaine and oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl to co-conspirators.
• Anthony Ruben Whisenant, 22, a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, allegedly aided and abetted the distribution of the fentanyl-laced pills purchased from Solis that resulted in L.M.’s fatal overdose.
• Jessica Sarah Perez, 25, of Pacoima, who distributed narcotics including fentanyl and cocaine to the conspiracy’s civilian customers.
• Ryan Douglas White, 24, a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, who is charged with being an accessory after the fact for allegedly attempting to hinder law enforcement’s apprehension of Whisenant and Solis.
Perez pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute narcotics on January 26.
Judge Gee is scheduled to sentence her on May 11. The remaining three defendants are scheduled to go on trial on June 21, officials stated. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.