Man sentenced to 13 years in prison for fentanyl-related death of Leander teen

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for selling a pill containing fentanyl that led to the death of a 19-year-old in Leander.

Juan Ignacio Soria Gamez was sentenced in a federal district court Friday for the overdose death of Tucker Roe. According to court documents, Gamez sold a counterfeit pill to Roe back in 2021, which led to Roe's death at his family's home.

After his death, Roe's mother Stefanie Turner founded Texas Against Fentanyl, an organization that educates parents and children about the dangers of fentanyl. Last year, the group was successful in pushing Texas lawmakers to pass "Tucker's Law," requiring Texas schools to educate students about the fatal drug.

Turner said Gamez's sentencing has closed this chapter for her family but the fight against the fentanyl crisis is ongoing.

"We are not getting ahead of it. We're still going backwards and until those death numbers start to go down I can't stop," Turner said.

As the fentanyl crisis continues, Texas lawmakers have gone to more drastic lengths to hold dealers involved in these deaths accountable.

In 2023, they passed a bill that allows prosecutors to seek a murder charge in connection to fentanyl-related deaths. The bill also increased criminal penalties for selling and distributing fentanyl.

That bill went into effect on September 1, 2023.