Carrier Crewmember Charged With Selling Fentanyl, Causing Fatal Overdose
Federal prosecutors in California have charged a U.S. Navy sailor from the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln with distributing the dangerous synthetic opiate fentanyl, resulting in the death of a shipmate while off-duty. Charging documents assert that he also distributed drugs to other sailors aboard the carrier, including while on deployment, causing at least one additional overdose.
In charges filed Tuesday in a court in Southern California, federal prosecutors alleged that Logistics Specialist 3rd Class Bailey Szramowski conspired with another Lincoln crewmember, identified only as A.N., to distribute pills of the painkiller Percocet laced with fentanyl to sailors aboard the carrier.
A.N. died of a fentanyl overdose while on shore leave on January 3, 2023. Police responders found him in an RV parked outside his aunt and uncle’s house in San Leandro, California. In a search, the police found a rolled-up dollar bill containing a white powder, a sign of drug use.
On January 13, another Lincoln sailor suffered an overdose and had to be hospitalized. This individual - named C.L. in charging documents - survived with medical attention, and was questioned by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). C.L. agreed to cooperate, and he told investigators that Szramowski had been distributing drugs aboard the carrier since 2022 - including during a period when the vessel was deployed in the Western Pacific.
According to C.L., Szramowski sold small, blue pills with the number “30” on them, likely counterfeit "M30" Percocet pills. C.L. and other sailors would pay Szramowski for the pills using Cash App, a payment application that retains a record of transactions. C.L. recalled buying the pills about 10 times while Lincoln was deployed and four more times after the carrier returned to the pier, including one pill he bought on the morning of his overdose.
C.L. also alleged that on the same day he began talking to NCIS, Szramowski instructed him to lie to the investigators and tell them that he had obtained the pills from A.N., who was at this point deceased. Prosecutors allege that Szramowski also attempted to cover up his activities by asking A.N.'s fiancee to delete text records from A.N.'s phone. She declined to help Szramowski, and instead told investigators that Szramowski had supplied A.N. with the batch of pills that caused the fatal overdose.
An examination of A.N.'s phone revealed that he had corresponded extensively with Szramowski about the use and sale of drugs, prosecutors said.