Drug dealer sentenced to 6 years for fatal fentanyl overdose

A man who sold the powerful narcotic fentanyl to a woman who later died was sentenced to six years and eight months of jail time and court supervision on Monday, the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office said.

Jon Curtis Oxenford, 26, of East Palo Alto, pleaded no contest to three counts of sale or transportation of a controlled substance related to the death of Alison Catalli, a 32-year-old San Carlos woman who died from a fentanyl overdose on Sept. 26, 2018.

Catalli had taken half an oxycontin pill, a strong narcotic, at 11 p.m. the night before her death and borrowed $20 from her roommate to purchase more drugs, according to the District Attorney's Office. The roommate took her to Oxenford's apartment to purchase fentanyl, a strong synthetic opioid that is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. The roommate found Catalli unconscious at her home the next morning. The San Mateo County Coroner's Office determined the cause of death was an overdose of fentanyl and venlafaxine, an antidepressant.

The roommate took police to Oxenford's apartment in the 1900 block of Cooley Avenue near Woodland Avenue in East Palo Alto where Catalli had purchased the drugs. A search warrant of Catalli's phone uncovered numerous text messages with Oxenford for drug sales, including an agreement to meet to purchase drugs the night before she died. Catalli had a fentanyl overdose four months prior to her death but was revived and hospitalized, the District Attorney's office said.

San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Susan L. Greenberg sentenced Oxenford to three years in county jail and three years and eight months of mandatory court supervision. He received 824 days credit for time served.