Upland Man Arrested on Indictment Alleging He Distributed Fentanyl to Victim Who Soon Afterward Died from Overdose
LOS ANGELES – A San Bernardino County man was arrested today on a federal grand jury indictment that alleges he sold fentanyl to a woman last year who soon afterward suffered a fatal overdose from the powerful synthetic opioid.
John Biagianti, 31, of Upland, was arrested this morning at his residence by federal and local law enforcement.
He is charged with one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death – a crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Biagianti is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
According to an indictment filed on April 6, Biagianti on August 8, 2021 knowingly and intentionally distributed fentanyl to a victim, who ingested the drug and died the following day.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s Overdose Death Investigations and Narcotics Unit and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles Division investigated this matter.
Special Assistant United States Attorney Stephen T. Merrill of the Riverside Branch Office is prosecuting this case.
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Los Angeles Field Division is the 2nd largest division in DEA and responsible for the seven largest counties in Southern California—Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, as well as the states of Nevada (Las Vegas/Reno), and Hawaii (Oahu/Maui), and the U. S. Territories of Guam and Saipan.
