Former Navy Couple Pleads Guilty in Fentanyl Ring Aboard Aircraft Carrier
The pair sold counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl to fellow sailors, resulting in one death and another overdose.
Two former crew members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Navy flagship nuclear supercarrier, have pleaded guilty to charges related to a drug distribution conspiracy that supplied fentanyl-laced pills to servicemembers. Bailey A. Szramowski, 29, and his wife, Johnnese H. Poomaihealani, 25, admitted to selling counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to fellow sailors.
Szramowski pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. According to his plea agreement, he began selling cocaine and pills misrepresented as oxycodone starting in August 2022. These pills, however, contained fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid, which he did not disclose to buyers.
On December 30, 2022, a sailor identified in court records as A.N. purchased 10 pills from Szramowski. A.N. subsequently suffered a fatal overdose and died on January 3, 2023. A coroner later determined the cause of death to be fentanyl ingestion. Szramowski continued to distribute pills from the same source even after A.N.'s death.
Ten days after A.N.'s death, Szramowski sold three more pills to another sailor, C.L. This sailor experienced an apparent overdose and required hospitalization but survived. Following the incident, Szramowski and Poomaihealani allegedly instructed C.L. to deceive investigators, urging him not to speak to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and to delete any evidence.
C.L. cooperated with investigators. Szramowski also attempted to conceal his involvement by asking A.N.'s family to destroy text messages, but they declined. Court records indicate both defendants are from Hawaii.
Szramowski faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 40 years, along with a potential $5 million fine. Poomaihealani could face up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Both are scheduled for sentencing on December 11, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro.
The investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations San Diego’s Fentanyl Abatement and Suppression Team, part of a multiagency task force established in August 2022 to combat fentanyl trafficking in San Diego County.