A Bonita man whom prosecutors say gave fentanyl pills to a 15-year-old girl in exchange for sex, with the drugs ultimately causing the girl’s fatal overdose, was sentenced Friday to more than 21 years in prison.
Marcus Ray Chavez, 30, gave the girl counterfeit pills containing fentanyl on at least four occasions between September and November of 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The teen died of an overdose on Nov. 12, 2022, one day after Chavez gave her two pills in exchange for sex, prosecutors said.
Chavez was aware of the girl’s age, according to his plea agreement. A prosecution sentencing memorandum states she had just turned 15 in September of 2022 and was in the ninth grade at the time.
The prosecution cited the girl’s family members and friends, who said the teen dreamed of owning her own hair salon someday and described her as “a shy but energetic girl with a big personality that was always laughing, playing and brightening any room that she entered.”
Prosecutors wrote that the girl would be a 17-year-old high school junior today.
“She might be making plans for her post-graduation hair salon or maybe thinking about college. But her family, her friends and the world will never know what (she) might have become,” prosecutors wrote. “Instead, due to defendant’s selfish desire for sexual gratification — with a child nearly half his age — and his callous indifference to the risk that the pills he gave her could kill her, (she) will forever be the 15-year-old girl that died in November 2022.”
Chavez pleaded guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking of a minor and distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. He was sentenced to 262 months in prison.
