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2 sentenced to prison in overdose death of CAL FIRE firefighter

Both men admitted that they knowingly supplied the fentanyl that killed 43-year-old Brian M. Parrish

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CAL FIRE Firefighter Brian M. Parrish, 43, died of a fentanyl overdose in January 2021.

Photo/CAL FIRE San Diego County Firefighters of Local #2881

By Leila Merrill
FireRescue1

SAN DIEGO — Two people were sentenced to prison Friday for supplying the fentanyl that led to a CAL FIRE firefighter’s fatal overdose, 10news reported.

Justin Gale Mata, 41, was sentenced to 15 years and Everett Justin Curtis, 48, was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months, U.S. attorney Randy Grossman’s office stated in a news release. The two men admitted in their plea agreements that they knowingly supplied the illicit substance which killed Brian M. Parrish, 43, in January 2021.

CAL FIRE San Diego County Firefighters Local #2881 said that Parrish began his fire service career in 2014 with the United States Forest Service. He later worked for San Diego County Fire and then CAL FIRE.