Man Who Dealt Deadly Fentanyl Dose In South OC Motel Sentenced

LAKE FOREST, CA — A 32-year-old Tustin man was sentenced Monday to more than 17 years in federal prison for dealing a deadly dose of fentanyl in a Lake Forest motel.

Anthony Bernard Fender pleaded guilty in March to possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl in connection with the overdose death that killed a 40-year-old man 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.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter sentenced Fender to 210 months in federal prison. The maximum punishment Fender faced was 20 years in prison.

Fender was a "drug addict who sold drugs to support his own addiction," but that should work for him and against him in terms of punishment, prosecutors said in a sentencing brief.

Fender "knew the dangers of fentanyl use, had overdosed twice himself on opioids, and kept Narcan in his room," prosecutors said.

A day after the victim's overdose Fender "was still peddling fentanyl from the same motel room and was found in possession of more than 36 grams of fentanyl, along with other drugs," prosecutors said.