LA County man pleads guilty to delivering deadly dose of fentanyl via drone
A Los Angeles County man has pleaded guilty to using a drone to deliver fentanyl and other drugs to people, including one woman who died of a fatal overdose in 2023.
Christopher Laney, now 36, entered his plea on Monday. His charges, distribution of fentanyl and intent to distribute methamphetamine, carry a sentence of between five and 60 years in federal prison, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice shared in 2024, when he was charged.
At the time, prosecutors said that Laney used a drone that was not registered with the Federal Aviation Administration to transport fentanyl from his Lancaster home to the parking lot of a nearby church. Laney is said to have used the aircraft in Jan. 2023 to deliver $80 worth of fentanyl to a person who then provided it to the victim, a woman only identified in the indictment as J.K.
She was found dead the next day of a fatal drug overdose, prosecutors noted.
Investigators found footage on Laney's drone from several other occasions on which it was used to deliver narcotics.
In Feb. 2023, when Laney was arrested, prosecutors said that he was also in possession of methamphetamine, fentanyl and multiple firearms, including an "AR-15 style rifle lacking a serial number" and two 9mm ghost-gun pistols.
He is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 9.