A married pair of former U.S. Navy sailors pleaded guilty this month to selling counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl to fellow service members, including one assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln who later died of an overdose.
Bailey A. Szramowski, 29, and his wife Johnnese H. Poomaihealani, 25, entered guilty pleas in federal court in San Diego on or about September 14-15, 2026, to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Both had served in connection with the San Diego-based carrier. Prosecutors said Szramowski sold the pills, represented as Percocet or oxycodone, without disclosing they contained fentanyl. Sales of cocaine and the counterfeit pills began no later than August 2022, including during the ship’s deployment and after its return to port.
Court records detail the key sales. On or about December 30, 2022, Szramowski provided 10 of the pills to an active-duty sailor identified only as A.N., who was assigned to the Lincoln. A.N. died on January 3, 2023, in San Leandro, California, while on leave. The autopsy determined the cause was acute fentanyl intoxication.
About 10 days later, Szramowski sold three more pills from the same supply to another sailor, C.L. That sailor overdosed, received Narcan, and survived after hospitalization. Investigators with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Homeland Security Investigations’ Fentanyl Abatement and Suppression Team in San Diego built the case using phone forensics, witness statements, and payment records.
After C.L.’s overdose, the couple contacted him and instructed him to tell investigators the pills came from A.N. and to delete evidence. Court records quote Poomaihealani telling C.L. essentially:
“Look, do not say to NCIS okay, do not say anything to NCIS. That’s all you need to do. Just delete everything.”
Szramowski also urged members of A.N.’s family to delete text messages, warning that discovery could ruin his future; the family refused.
An indictment in early 2025 charged both with conspiracy; Szramowski also faced a count of distribution resulting in death. They pleaded to the conspiracy count. Sentencing is set for December 11, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro. Szramowski faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 40 years in prison plus a potential multimillion-dollar fine. Poomaihealani faces up to 20 years. Both had been separated from the Navy by late 2025 and lived in Hawaii while free on bond. A defense attorney has said Poomaihealani is “extremely remorseful,” particularly about A.N.’s death.
The 2022-2023 drug sales and overdoses predated by years the USS Abraham Lincoln’s extended 2025-2026 deployment. That later cruise involved more than 250 days at sea, limited port calls, and reported concerns over food, water, plumbing, morale, and mental health that drew congressional attention. The earlier fentanyl case does not establish that it caused or directly explains those later conditions. Sales involved Lincoln sailors both during the 2022 deployment and ashore in the San Diego area; the fatal overdose occurred off the ship while A.N. was on leave.
The defendants remain free on bond pending their December sentencing. The case is closed on liability through the guilty pleas.
