The 18-year federal prison sentence handed down to a drug dealer may end with the defendant serving time in a prison hospital because he has AIDS, according to sentencing documents.
James Chavez, the attorney for Scott Anthony Sargent, 64, wrote to the judge saying his client may not survive 15 years in prison, the term Chavez had requested in the case of two North Park overdose deaths.
Sargent pleaded guilty on Jan. 14 to distributing fentanyl in a fatal mixture. The U.S. Attorney had sought a 20-year sentence for the deaths of Michelle Ly and Zachary Whalen.
Chavez, in the sentencing documents, wrote that Sargent has Hepatitis C, is in constant pain from a degenerative disc disease and takes daily medication for treatment of HIV.
“This represents severe punishment while preserving some possibility for him to make amends in his final years,” he said.
But U.S. District Judge Robert Huie and the families of Ly, 40, and Whalen, 35, were unmoved during a recent hearing. Ly and Whalen died after using cocaine laced with fentanyl and their families urged the court to impose the maximum term.
“He deserves to die for the senseless deaths he caused,” said the sister of one victim.
“He would have been a great substance abuse counselor,” said Zachary’s sister. “We are a broken family, and we will not be the same again. We’re ready for some closure.”
The judge chided Sargent, saying he was guilty of “reprehensible conduct.”
“You’re lucky you are alive,” Huie told Sargent, sitting at a defense table wearing a tan uniform, adding that “these people will never have a chance for a comeback.” The judge also ordered Sargent to pay $19,505 in restitution to the victims’ families.
A friend for 30 years, Joette McNease, though, defended Sargent, telling the judge grief played a role in his conduct. Sargent’s wife and mother both died in recent years and his 12 years of sobriety ended in 2021.
“I know that it was his grief that took him back to the dark place of addiction,” McNease wrote.
It is unknown who called the San Diego Police Department at 6 a.m. on Nov. 10, 2022, when police discovered four people unconscious on the floor in a bedroom in North Park.
Sargent and a North Park man were able to recover with Narcan, but Whalen and Ly could not be revived by paramedics.
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