Two Colorado women sentenced for supplying friend fatal dose of fentanyl from Mexican pharmacy

Two Boulder women avoided jail time on federal drug smuggling charges following the death of a friend who overdosed on pills the women purchased for him while they were on vacation in Mexico. 

Grace Kohler and Elizabeth Brown were both sentenced this month in federal court, Kohler on Thursday, Brown the week before. Both received three years probation and 240 hours of community service. Both were also ordered to pay $10,000 to a Boulder-based non-profit or governmental organization of their choosing that promotes substance abuse awareness and prevention.

With the blessing of the deceased man's family, federal prosecutors recommended probation for the two women prior to the judge's ruling. A court document from Brown's case that was filed before the hearing stated, "J.B.'s family members do not want any prison time for either Mr. (sic) Brown or Ms. Kohler...Ms. Brown has met with J.B.'s mother and brother...she has spoken publicly about this case to help a younger generation understand the potential dangers of drug use...As such, the government does not object to the defendant's request for probation."

Each woman could have been sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined $1 million. Those are among the maximum penalties available to a federal judge for a single felony count of Conspiracy to Import a Controlled Substance, as noted in court documents.

Kohler was 23 years old and Brown 24 when they and another woman returned from a five-day vacation on the Yucatán peninsula in August 2021. 

The morning after their return, 21-year-old Jacob Bukovich was found unconscious in his bedroom by a roommate. He was dead.

According to Kohler's plea agreement, the women entered a pharmacy in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico and exchanged texts and phone calls with Bukovich. 

"After considering the drugs the pharmacy advertised, (Bukovich) asked the women to get him oxycodone," as described in the plea agreement. "Kohler paid the pharmacy $300 for 30 pills of supposed oxycodone, using her credit card. (Bukovich) later sent Kohler $300 as reimbursement via Venmo. Brown translated from English to Spanish while the women communicated with the employee at the pharmacy. The women believed the pills they purchased contained oxycodone because that is what the pharmacy and the employee represented the pills to be."

The women landed at Denver International Airport and drove to Bukovich's workplace. There, they handed him the pills in the parking lot and left.

An autopsy later determined Bukovich died of fentanyl toxicity. 

Investigators found a sandwich bag in Bukovich's bedroom containing 29 "poorly pressed" pills with "M" and "30" stamped on them, as stated in a court document. Laboratory analysis revealed that they contained fentanyl and no oxycodone.

The women, accused of trafficking narcotics because they failed to declare the drugs with U.S. Customs while travelling between countries, cooperated with the investigation.  

"The only safe and reliable place to get legitimate prescription medications is from a trusted and licensed pharmacist within the United States," U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Special Agent in Charge David Olesky of the Rocky Mountain Field Division stated in a press release. "The cartels are driving addiction across our country through the trafficking of fentanyl. This is precisely why DEA launched its One Pill Can Kill Campaign in 2021. Today, 70 percent of the pills seized by DEA contain a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl. We can't say it enough – don't purchase pills on social media or take a pill provided by a 'friend'."  

At the time of his death, Bukovich was an undergraduate student at the University of Colorado-Boulder in its computer science program. He grew up in Eagle, Colorado, per his obituary, and participated in multiple sports at Battle Mountain High School. 

The same day Bukovich passed away, a car was stopped on Interstate 70 near his home town. Authorities found several bags of suspected narcotics inside the car, including 8.7 pounds of what was then believed to be fentanyl pills. The then-19 year old driver of the car is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence in the Colorado Department of Corrections.