Downey attorney pleads guilty to selling drugs on Craigslist

DOWNEY – A Downey-based attorney pleaded guilty Monday to a federal narcotics distribution charge for illegally selling more than 1,000 oxycodone pills after offering the opioid drugs for sale on Craigslist.

Jackie Ferrari, 36, a resident of Downey, pleaded guilty to one count of illegally distributing oxycodone.

According to court documents, Ferrari sold a law enforcement source 50 oxycodone pills for $1,200 during a transaction on January 10.

Ferrari was arrested in this case on January 18 after agreeing to sell the source another 180 pills for $4,100.

The investigation into Ferrari began after a 22-year-old woman died in August 2018 of a fentanyl overdose, and text messages on the victim’s phone initially indicated that she may have purchased the narcotics from a drug trafficker associated with Ferrari.

While investigators did not link Ferrari to that overdose death, they opened an investigation “based on evidence…that she is a large-scale trafficker in opiates via the website Craigslist” and information developed by two local police departments tying Ferrari to drug trafficking activities in late 2017, according to an affidavit filed in this case.

Court documents describe how Ferrari posted ads on Craiglist offering oxycodone and other drugs under coded names such as “foxy roxy dolls,” which referred to Roxicodone, a short-acting version of oxycodone.

In her plea agreement, Ferrari admitted informing customers that they would be required to ingest a pill in her presence, to verify that they were not law enforcement.

As a result of Monday’s guilty plea, Ferrari will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison when she is sentenced on October 21 by United States District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald.

The investigation into Ferrari is being conducted by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force, which operates under the direction of the Drug Enforcement Administration. The investigation is being led by DEA agents and deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The Costa Mesa Police Department and the Cypress Police Department provided substantial assistance in the investigation.

The case against Ferrari is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin Barron, Chief of the Santa Ana Branch Office, and A. Carley Palmer of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering & Racketeering Section.