What to Know
- A lawyer faces drug distribution charges for allegedly illegally selling oxycodone pills after offering drugs for sale on Craigslist.
- Jackie Ferrari, 36, of Downey, was arrested late Friday.
- Ferrari is charged with one count of distributing a controlled substance, a criminal complaint says.
A Beverly Hills attorney faces federal drug distribution charges for allegedly illegally selling oxycodone pills after offering drugs for sale on Craigslist.
Jackie Ferrari, 36, a resident of Downey, who investigators believe recently started a new job at a Beverly Hills law firm, was arrested late Friday without incident by law enforcement officers affiliated with the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, which operates under the direction of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
A criminal complaint filed on Jan. 15 and unsealed Tuesday specifically charges Ferrari with one count of distributing a controlled substance. The affidavit in support of the complaint alleges that a law enforcement source with a long history of purchasing narcotics from Ferrari made a buy earlier this month in which Ferrari sold the informant 50 oxycodone pills for $1,200.
Ferrari subsequently sent the informant and other likely customers a text message that she "recently obtained a new supply of oxycodone and (had) other drugs available for sale," the affidavit alleges.
The investigation into Ferrari began after a 22-year-old woman died in August of a fentanyl overdose, and text messages on the victim's phone initially indicated she may have purchased the narcotics from Ferrari, according to federal prosecutors.
While investigators currently do not believe that Ferrari sold the narcotics that led to the overdose death, they have continued to investigate her "based on evidence" that she is a large-scale trafficker in opiates via the website Craigslist, according to the affidavit, which notes that two local police departments developed information about Ferrari's alleged drug trafficking activities in late 2017.
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The affidavit also notes that records obtained from Craigslist pursuant to a subpoena demonstrate Ferrari's "long history of posting advertisements for ... the sale of narcotics" using coded names such as "roxy dolls" (apparently referring to Roxicodone, a short-acting version of oxycodone), "Chinese White Rice" (a reference to "China white" or powdered heroin, which is often mixed with fentanyl) and "Black Rice" (black tar heroin), according to federal prosecutors.
If convicted of the charge in the criminal complaint, Ferrari would face a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison, prosecutors noted.
