E. Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California
A South Bay resident has admitted to selling fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills that led to a fatal overdose in January 2020. Marcus Michael Takaya Poydras, 36, from Redondo Beach, entered a guilty plea for one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death.
Poydras acknowledged distributing pills he claimed were oxycodone but actually contained fentanyl. On the evening of January 22, 2020, he sold approximately 90 pills to a drug dealer. The dealer then sold 20 of these pills to a victim for $340 at a Marina del Rey mall parking lot. The victim's consumption of the pills resulted in a fatal overdose.
In his plea agreement, Poydras also admitted to possessing various narcotics and a firearm with an obliterated serial number in July 2020. He acquired the weapon from Melvin Ramon Washington, a law enforcement technician formerly with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), who was one of Poydras's customers.
Washington has since entered into a deferred prosecution agreement after admitting to providing Poydras with the revolver and making false statements to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Washington left LASD in July 2023.
Additionally, Poydras confessed to intending to distribute fentanyl in January 2021 and possessing another firearm related to his drug activities. United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer has set sentencing for September 8, where Poydras faces a minimum sentence of 20 years and up to life imprisonment. He has been held in federal custody since September 2021.
The DEA, LASD, and Redondo Beach Police Department are conducting investigations into this case as part of the DEA’s Overdose Justice Task Force initiative aimed at addressing opioid-related deaths primarily caused by fentanyl in Los Angeles.
Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Castañeda is leading the prosecution effort.
