Drug dealer Trevon Antone Lucas pleaded guilty, admitting that he sold pills containing fentanyl to a La Jolla man, causing his fatal overdose last year.

Lucas, a resident of Highland, California, admitted in his plea agreement that he posted online advertisements for the illegal sale of prescription pills. The victim responded to one of Lucas’ posts in 2017 and began purchasing various prescription pills from him.

According to his plea agreement, on the evening of June 29, 2018, Lucas met the victim and sold him nine “blues,” a slang term for prescription oxycodone pills, for $240. The “blues” purchased from Lucas were counterfeit and contained deadly fentanyl. The victim was found dead in his room the following morning.

Text messages between the victim and Lucas indicated that Lucas sold the counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl that caused the fatal overdose. Three other individuals, Cenlair Marie Fields, Kevin Vandale Chandler and Donovan Adontas Carter were charged in the same indictment with conspiring with Lucas to distribute prescription hydrocodone pills. All three have since pleaded guilty.

Lucas is scheduled to be sentenced on July 19, 2019 before U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo.

Many opioid addicts start their addiction with legitimate prescription drugs. Drug cartels, looking to capitalize on the opioid epidemic, are making counterfeit prescription pills using deadly fentanyl. More than 399,000 people died from opioid overdoses, including prescription and illicit opioids, from 1999-2017.

In July 2018, Narcotics Task Force Team 10 was created to address drug overdose deaths in San Diego County. Team 10’s first investigation was the fentanyl drug overdose of this La Jolla man on June 30, 2018. The victim was 38 years old and he left behind his mother and brother.