Two former sailors pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to selling counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl to fellow sailors stationed aboard the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in 2023, which led to the death of one service member and the hospitalization of another.
According to a Justice Department release, Bailey A. Szramowski, 29, provided an active-duty sailor aboard the Lincoln with what was purported to be oxycodone in December 2022. The following month, the victim, identified solely by his initials, A.N., overdosed and died of “acute fentanyl intoxication” while on leave in San Leandro, California.
Local law enforcement officials found evidence of drug use at the scene, and a toxicology report later confirmed A.N.’s cause of death as fentanyl intoxication.
Ten days later, Szramowski, despite knowing of A.N.’s death, sold three more of the purported oxy pills to another sailor stationed aboard the Lincoln, identified as C.L. The sailor was hospitalized for an apparent overdose but survived.
According to court documents, Szramowski and his wife, fellow sailor Johnnese H. Poomaihealani, 25, then called C.L. and “instructed C.L. to tell law enforcement he received the pills from A.N. and not Szramowski.”
C.L. subsequently agreed to cooperate in a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation into drug distribution activities aboard the Lincoln and A.N.’s death, according to the complaint.
C.L. told investigators that A.N. and Szramowski had been selling Percocet pills — which court documents state were likely counterfeit — to other sailors, including himself, for about a year, alleging Szramowski sold the pills aboard the carrier during its 2022 deployment and after the ship returned to San Diego, California.
According to C.L., Szramowski purchased the pills via mail, received them at a P.O. box in Coronado, California, and then charged sailors for the pills via CashApp, a mobile payment app.
Szramowski is also accused of attempting to cover up his alleged involvement in A.N.’s death, directing A.N.’s family to delete text messages between himself and A.N. on A.N.’s phone after his death. The family declined, according to the complaint.
The sailor allegedly told A.N.’s family members that “he ‘might go down for murder’ or it would ‘ruin his future,’ or words to that effect, if the police found the messages,” the complaint states.
Szramowski reported to the Lincoln in May 2021 after completing boot camp and surface combat systems training at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, according to military records. He was promoted to logistics specialist third class in June 2024.
The husband-and-wife duo was originally charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and cocaine. The pair on Monday pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
Szramowski and Poomaihealani are set to be sentenced on Dec. 11, 2026. Szramowski faces a minimum of five years in prison and up to 40 years, and a $5 million fine, while Poomaihealani faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
Beth Sullivan contributed to this report.
Claire Barrett is an editor and military history correspondent for Military Times. She is also a World War II researcher with an unparalleled affinity for Sir Winston Churchill and Michigan football.
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