San Diego Man Gets 13 Years in Teen's Fentanyl Death

SAN DIEGO (AP) A man who sold fentanyl-laced pills that killed a 15-year-old San Diego County boy was sentenced Tuesday to 13 years in federal prison.

Kaylar Junior Tawan Beltranlap, 21, of San Diego was sentenced for distributing fentanyl in the form of counterfeit oxycodone pills.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and even a tiny amount can be deadly. It is sold in various forms, including blue pills designed to look like oxycodone, a powerful painkiller.

Beltranlap pleaded guilty in July, acknowledging that he used his Instagram account to work out a drug transaction with Clark Jackson Salveron, a sophomore at Coronado High School in Coronado, the San Diego County district attorney's office said.