The pills were represented as oxycodone or Percocet but actually contained fentanyl, according to prosecutors and court records. That distinction proved fatal for one young sailor.
The Pill That Turned Deadly
In December 2022, Szramowski provided 10 purported oxycodone pills to an active-duty sailor assigned to the Abraham Lincoln. Court documents identify that sailor only as A.N.
On January 3, 2023, A.N. died in San Leandro, California, from acute fentanyl intoxication. Investigators later determined that the pills were counterfeit and contained the powerful synthetic opioid.
But the operation apparently did not stop with A.N.’s death.
Just 10 days later, prosecutors say Szramowski sold three more purported oxycodone pills to another sailor, identified in court documents as C.L.
C.L. suffered an apparent overdose and was hospitalized. He survived after receiving Narcan, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses.
Instead of ending the drug operation after one sailor died and another nearly followed him, court records say the defendants attempted to conceal what had happened.
Szramowski and Poomaihealani contacted C.L. and instructed him to tell investigators that the pills had come from A.N. rather than Szramowski, according to the Justice Department. C.L. subsequently cooperated with investigators.
Szramowski also allegedly tried to persuade members of A.N.’s family and the sailor’s former fiancée to delete messages exchanged with him.
According to court records, he warned that he “might go down for murder” and asked the family to remove the communications. They refused.
That decision helped investigators preserve evidence that would eventually become part of the federal case.
Drugs Inside a U.S. Aircraft Carrier
The scandal is particularly striking because the drugs were not merely circulating somewhere near a military installation.
Investigators say Szramowski was selling pills to fellow sailors associated with the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
The Abraham Lincoln is home to thousands of sailors and serves as a centerpiece of U.S. naval power. During the deployment referenced in recent reporting, the carrier spent an extraordinary amount of time at sea, including hundreds of days connected to operations in a combat zone.
Yet according to court records, counterfeit pills were moving among members of the crew.
The allegations also underscore the particular danger posed by counterfeit prescription drugs. A person purchasing what appears to be oxycodone may have no reliable way of knowing what is actually inside the tablet.
In this case, prosecutors say the pills contained fentanyl.
And one sailor paid the ultimate price.
Federal Investigators Close In
The investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations San Diego’s Fentanyl Abatement and Suppression Team, a multiagency task force established in August 2022 to target fentanyl trafficking and distribution networks in San Diego County.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service and California Department of Justice also participated in the investigation.
The case ultimately brought the husband-and-wife operation into federal court.
Both defendants entered guilty pleas in September 2026. Their sentencing is scheduled for December 11 before U.S. District Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro in San Diego.
Szramowski faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of 40 years in federal prison, along with a potential $5 million fine.
Poomaihealani faces a maximum sentence of 20 years and a potential $1 million fine.
The guilty pleas bring a measure of accountability, but they cannot undo what happened to A.N.
A Warning for America’s Military
The case also highlights a broader problem facing military installations across the country: counterfeit pills can look legitimate while containing lethal amounts of fentanyl.
The danger does not end at the gates of a military base.
A sailor does not have to believe he is purchasing fentanyl to be exposed to it. A counterfeit pill marketed as a familiar prescription drug can carry an entirely different and deadly substance.
That reality makes the Abraham Lincoln case especially sobering.
The Navy entrusts its sailors with nuclear reactors, aircraft, weapons systems and some of the most sophisticated military equipment on Earth. But the threat posed by a tiny counterfeit tablet can be just as devastating.
The federal case against Szramowski and Poomaihealani now moves toward sentencing.
For the family of A.N., however, the most important fact remains painfully simple: a sailor received pills that were presented as oxycodone, ingested fentanyl instead, and never came home.
The guilty pleas establish that the drug operation was real. The surviving sailor’s cooperation helped investigators uncover the attempted cover-up. And the federal prosecution has now exposed how counterfeit fentanyl-laced pills reached members of a U.S. Navy carrier crew.
What began with pills changing hands among sailors ultimately became a federal criminal investigation—and a grim reminder of just how quickly a counterfeit prescription drug can turn deadly.
