Santa Rita Jail inmate sentenced to 7 years for providing deadly dose of fentanyl

OAKLAND, Calif. - A federal judge in Oakland on Friday sentenced a woman who was formerly incarcerated at Santa Rita Jail to seven years in prison for distributing a deadly dose of fentanyl.

In June, Kameron Patricia Reid, 38, of San Leandro pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl to other inmates; she had hidden the narcotic inside her genitals, which was captured on surveillance video. 

On May 16, 2021, she gave two women fentanyl and watched them snort it. 

Shortly thereafter, they both appeared intoxicated and one of the women lapsed into unconsciousness and became motionless near her bunk. 

The Department of Justice did not name the woman who died, KTVU has learned it was Lee Esther Anderson, according to family and an FBI affadavit. 

In order to avoid getting in trouble, Reid admitted that she did not notify anyone in the jail that Anderson appeared to have overdosed. Instead, she flushed any remaining fentanyl down the toilet, she said in her plea agreement.   

Eventually another woman called for assistance after several hours. 

Paramedics arrived but Anderson was pronounced dead.   

Investigators said that Reid lied to them about her involvement in Anderson's death. 

In her plea agreement, Reid admitted that the fentanyl that she gave Anderson had killed her.  

Reid could have been sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison.  

She has not been charged with Anderson's death, however. 

When she was young, Anderson was a star basketball player at Skyline High School. 

In a video her friend made about her in 1994, Anderson said she hoped to go to college and be an actress or a professional basketball player one day. Anderson later went on to attend San Diego State University, have a daughter and a hold down a songwriting and music production career.

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar and Reid will start her sentence immediately.