The sign for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., posted along Interstate Highway 5 in an undated photo. Camp Pendleton is the premier Marine Force training base on the West Coast. (Department of Defense)
Two Marines pleaded guilty in federal court for their role in the fatal fentanyl overdose of a fellow Marine, according to federal officials.
Anthony Ruben Whisenant, 24, pleaded guilty Friday. He is facing a maximum of four years in prison for using a cell phone to commit a felony drug offense, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Ryan Douglas White, 27, was charged with being an accessory after the fact. He pleaded guilty in December 2024 to one count of misprision of a felony for his knowledge of the fatal drug transaction and his attempts to hinder law enforcement’s investigation.
The crime dates to May 2020, when Whisenant and White were active-duty lance corporals stationed at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif.
Whisenant ordered pills marketed as oxycodone, but which actually contained fentanyl, for a Marine only identified as “L.M.,” according to court documents. Whisenant contacted the drug dealer based on an advertisement shared via a Snapchat account.
The victim, L.M., drove Whisenant and White from Camp Pendleton to collect the drugs from the dealer later that same day. The three Marines then drove to a party in Compton, Calif., where L.M. ingested some of the pills purchased from the dealer and died shortly after.
“At the direction of Whisenant, White flushed the remaining pills down a toilet before first responders arrived,” federal officials said.
Whisenant is scheduled to be sentenced in May. White’s sentencing is scheduled for June 6. He will face a maximum sentence of three years.
The drug dealer, Gustavo Jaciel Solis, 28, was arrested in July 2020, at which time investigators seized narcotics and several firearms — including a 9mm “ghost gun” — from his residence.
Solis pleaded guilty in April 2022 to two federal drug trafficking offenses: participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy and distributing fentanyl resulting in death. His sentencing is pending. He faces a maximum sentence of life.
