A Los Angeles attorney pleaded guilty Monday to a federal drug trafficking charge for selling more than 1,000 oxycodone pills after posting ads on Craigslist, prosecutors announced Monday in a news release.
According to court documents, Jackie Ferrari, 36, of Downey, sold 50 oxycodone pills for $1,200 to a law enforcement source on Jan. 10. Ferrari was arrested eight days later after agreeing to sell the source another 180 pills for $4,100.
The investigation began after a 22-year-old woman died in August 2018 of a fentanyl overdose. Text messages on the victim’s phone indicated she purchased the drugs from a dealer associated with Ferrari, prosecutors said.
Investigators did not directly link Ferrari to that death, but began the investigation “based on evidence…that she is a large-scale trafficker in opiates via the website Craigslist.”
In her plea agreement, Ferrari admitted telling her customers that they had to ingest a pill in her presence to prove that they weren’t law enforcement.
Ferrari faces a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison. Her sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 21.
The case was detailed in a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
