Man sentenced to 19 years in prison for SoCal teenager's fentanyl death

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- A convicted drug dealer will spend 19 years in prison for the fentanyl overdose death of a 17-year-old boy, and the victim's family spoke out about the sentencing.

Logan Burchett died from taking fentanyl back in 2023. His family says he had no idea that the drugs he'd purchased had been laced with it.

The man who sold him the drugs, Kyler Overby, was sentenced Friday to 19 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to intent to distribute fentanyl, as well as possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

An independent filmmaker who followed the case from the very beginning captured video of the suspect's arrest.

Burchett's family spoke to Eyewitness News outside the federal courthouse in downtown Riverside after the sentencing.

"Nineteen years doesn't replace the loss of our son, but I think it's sufficient for now," said his mother, Cassie Burchett.

The teenage victim was found unresponsive on May 5, 2023 - a day his father says he will never forget.

"Having to give my son chest compressions, I walked in, saw it all happen... that's a battle I've had to try to overcome for the past two years myself," said Craig Burchett.

One of the investigators in the case said it was not a one-off. In fact, he said the defendant had been selling drugs to multiple teenagers.

"He was what I could consider (to be) a prolific drug dealer," said Robert Cornett, now a retired master investigator with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

"We found him dealing to nine other juveniles on his particular phone that was only for drug sales."

And that's not all they found.

"When we served a search warrant on his house, we found three ghost guns, we found $55,000 plus in cash, a kilo of cocaine, over 2,000 fentanyl pills. The only thing he did was deal drugs."

Burchett's family and friends had this to say about what they call a fentanyl epidemic:

"It's awful, it's absolutely awful. There's a few groups on Facebook that have banded together regarding fentanyl and the loss of their children. It's an absolute epidemic all over the United States," Cassie said.