A Loma Linda man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after admitting that fentanyl he sold led to a fatal overdose. Alexander Nihar Biswas met the victim in the parking lot of a Loma Linda hotel on January 4, 2024, and agreed to sell that person fentanyl, which they used later that same day and did not survive.
According to KESQ, Biswas pleaded guilty on January 6, 2026 to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and admitted the drugs he distributed resulted in the victim's death. He has been held in federal custody since March 2025, and U.S. District Judge Kenly Kiya Kato handed down the 10-year sentence along with an order that Biswas pay $1,701 in restitution.
The Drug Enforcement Administration announced the sentencing, crediting the cooperative work of the agencies involved in bringing the case to a conclusion. Per DEA officials, fentanyl remains a major public health threat and is now the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45. Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated roughly 80,391 drug overdose deaths occurred across the country in 2024, with synthetic opioids like fentanyl driving the majority of those fatalities, according to figures cited by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
How the Case Reached Federal Court
When Biswas was indicted in March 2025, federal prosecutors charged him with distribution of fentanyl resulting in death, an offense that under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C) carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, per the U.S. Attorney's Office Central District of California. He pleaded guilty in January 2026 to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and Judge Kato later imposed a 10-year term. The indictment and guilty plea marked key stages in the federal case.
The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin C. Kiss of the Riverside Branch Office and was adjudicated in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Riverside.
A Regional Task Force Behind the Investigation
The case against Biswas was investigated by the DEA and the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Overdose Response Team. Separately, the DEA's OD Justice Task Force was launched in 2018 within the agency's Los Angeles Field Division and trains and partners with local police across seven Southern California counties to investigate fatal overdoses as homicides.
As of May 2025, federal prosecutors in the Central District of California had charged 163 defendants in connection with fatal fentanyl poisonings since the task force's 2018 launch, including 20 cases filed in the first five months of 2025 alone, per the U.S. Attorney's Office Central District of California.
Local Numbers Keep Climbing
Fentanyl-related overdose deaths in San Bernardino County escalated from 74 in 2019 to 436 in 2023, according to figures released by the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health. In response, the county launched a multi-agency public campaign in June 2023 titled Fentanyl Doesn't Care. But We Do. alongside the #ACTNOW education program, aimed at distributing harm-reduction resources and raising awareness in high-risk areas and among young adults, per the San Bernardino County Wire.
Loma Linda itself has remained a focal point for local drug enforcement. In June 2025, San Bernardino Sheriff's deputies executed a search warrant at a Loma Linda residence on Mountain View Avenue, seizing two ounces of fentanyl, methamphetamine and an unserialized firearm, as Hoodline previously reported. Biswas's case was included in the U.S. Attorney's Office's May 2025 announcement of 20 fatal overdose cases across Southern California.
