A Southern California first responder who sold a fatal dose of fentanyl to a coworker was sentenced Wednesday to more than 30 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
Cruz Noel Quintero, 43, was convicted last September of distributing fentanyl resulting in death, along with multiple felony weapons charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Prosecutors said at trial that Quintero, a former EMT for a hospital, sold cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs out of his home in Long Beach and shipped large quantities of the narcotics across the country.
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In 2019, Quintero sold a white powder he claimed was cocaine for $100 to a coworker in the parking lot outside the hospital’s emergency room, prosecutors said. The man was found dead in Las Vegas the following day, and toxicologists later determined he overdosed on fentanyl.
During the subsequent investigation, law enforcement found drug paraphernalia and more than a dozen firearms, including machine guns, at Quintero’s residence, officials said.
Quintero has been in custody since his arrest in May 2019.
