Gavel 2

A Medford man was sentenced Monday to six and a half years in federal prison for distributing fentanyl that led to a high school teenager’s fatal overdose.

John Rocha, 31, appeared at the James A. Redden Courthouse in Medford, where he received his sentence on a single count of distributing fentanyl in connection to the Sept. 7, 2021, death of the teen, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Rocha’s attorney, Nicholas Granath, noted that Rocha was the first defendant to be sentenced in this case, according to court records. 

Rocha’s sentence, imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane, matched what prosecutors had asked for, court records said.

Granath had requested a sentence for his client of no more than five years in prison, according to court records. The attorney said Rocha “deeply regrets his offense, accepts responsibility and has begun his own rehabilitation as best he can.”

The sentencing hearing Monday followed Rocha’s guilty plea on Feb. 20, according to the release and an online courthouse calendar. 

Rocha had been indicted by a federal grand jury in Medford along with several other defendants whose cases are pending.

An investigation by law enforcement revealed that the teen had taken counterfeit Percocet pills containing fentanyl, which he received from his stepbrother, Hunter Fenstermaker, a co-defendant in the case. Fenstermaker obtained his fentanyl pills from co-defendant Napoleon Gomez, who got his pills from co-defendant Conner Francis, whose supply source was Rocha, according to court records.

Distributing fentanyl is not Rocha’s first conviction for drug trafficking, prosecutors noted. In 2018, he was convicted of delivery of heroin and received probation. In 2023, Rocha was convicted of distributing heroin for an incident that occurred in early 2021.