Valdez sentenced to 5 years
Drug dealer was convicted for fentanyl overdose death of Valetta Kroeger
A drug dealer convicted in the fentanyl overdose death of a woman in Lafayette was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison.
Sammy Valdez, 23, was found guilty by a Boulder County jury in October of manslaughter, four counts of distribution of a controlled substance and one count of possession with intent to sell.
On Thursday, Boulder District Judge Nancy Salomone sentenced Valdez to five years in the Colorado Department of Corrections on the manslaughter charge for the death of Valetta “Lola” Kroeger, 21.
“I know that you didn’t mean to cause her death, but you did a thing that the jury decided and the court believes and knows was reckless and dangerous and it caused the Kroeger family to lose her,” Salomone said. “And when I look at that action, it wasn’t intentional, but you made a decision for $15 a pill to risk someone’s life, and that family bears the loss of that $15-a-pill decision that you made.
“It was $15 a pill for you, and they have lost a child and a sister and a partner and a friend.”
According to an affidavit, police were called to a home in Lafayette on March 19, 2020, after Kroeger’s boyfriend woke up to find Kroeger not breathing and not responding. Paramedics responded, but she was declared dead on the scene.
The boyfriend told police he had bought oxycodone pills from Valdez, his normal dealer, and that he and Kroeger each took one before going to sleep.
In examining the pills, police noted that they appeared to be counterfeit oxycodone pills. The pills were sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and tested positive for fentanyl.
When questioned by police about the counterfeit pills, Valdez said he did not know he was selling counterfeit pills until February
2020, at which time he told his supplier he would no longer buy them because he knew they were associated with overdose deaths.
But according to the affidavit, evidence recovered on Valdez’s phone indicated Valdez knew he was selling counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.
“I also have to consider, and I thought hard about this, but based on the evidence I heard … you knew what you had was fentanyl, and you knew that fentanyl was dangerous,” Salomone said.
Boulder Chief Trial Deputy District Attorney Adam Kendall had asked for the maximum sentence on the manslaughter count.
“There is nothing more serious than being responsible for the loss of life,” Kendall said. “We know it wasn’t intentional, it was not after