Navy couple busted in California drug ring on military’s flagship nuclear supercarrier after crew member overdoses

Two former USS Abraham Lincoln crewmembers have pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to active-duty Navy sailors, including one sailor who later died from a fentanyl overdose.

Bailey A. Szramowski, 29, and his wife, Johnnese H. Poomaihealani, 25, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

According to Szramowski’s plea agreement, he sold cocaine and pills labeled as “Percocet” to crewmates beginning no later than August 2022. The pills were represented as oxycodone but were actually laced with fentanyl.

Szramowski did not disclose that to the buyers, according to the plea agreement.

On Dec. 30, 2022, a USS Abraham Lincoln crewmember, identified in court records only as A.N., bought 10 pills from Szramowski.

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A.N. subsequently overdosed and died on Jan. 3, 2023. A coroner later determined determined they died from ingesting fentanyl.

Szramowski then continued selling pills from the same source.

Ten days after A.N.’s death, Szramowski sold three more purported oxycodone pills to another active-duty sailor, identified as C.L. The sailor suffered an apparent overdose and was hospitalized, but survived.

Szramowski and Poomaihealani later contacted C.L. and instructed him to tell investigators that he had received the pills from A.N., who had recently died from the same supply.

Poomaihealani admitted telling C.L. during a call:

“Look, do not . . . say ____ to NCIS okay, do not say anything to NCIS. That’s all you need to do,” Poomaihealani admitted to telling C.L. “Just delete everything.”

C.L. instead agreed to cooperate with investigators.

Szramowski also attempted to conceal the origin of the drugs by asking A.N.’s family to delete text messages he had sent to A.N.’s phone but the family declined.

Szramowski told the family that the messages could ruin his future or get him criminally charged if they were not deleted.

According to the court records, Szramowski sold the counterfeit pills to at least two sailors while working with Poomaihealani. Both defendants are listed as being from Hawaii.

Szramowski faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 40 years, as well as a potential $5 million fine. Poomaihealani faces up to 20 years in prison and a potential $1 million fine.

Both defendants are scheduled to be sentenced by US District Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro on Dec. 11, 2026.

Special agents and task force officers with HSI San Diego’s Fentanyl Abatement and Suppression Team led the investigation.

The multiagency task force was established in August 2022 and focuses on disrupting and dismantling criminal organizations that smuggle and distribute fentanyl within San Diego County.