A Santa Barbara man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Thursday for selling the fentanyl that killed a man in 2022, according to the District Attorney’s Office. 

Dillon James Joseph Johnson, 37, also pleaded guilty to a special allegation of personally inflicting great bodily injury or death, and drug-related charges including possessing fentanyl and methamphetamine for sale. 

Santa Barbara Police investigators said Johnson sold fentanyl to Matthew Justin Dyet on April 28, 2022. 

Dyet ingested the fentanyl and was found dead on the 100 block of State Street the next morning, with the cause of death determined to be a fentanyl overdose. He was found “a short distance from the location of the drug transaction,” the District Attorney’s Office said. 

Dyet was a 30-year-old Santa Barbara man. 

Police arrested Johnson after searching a Goleta home and finding fentanyl and other narcotics that constituted possession with intent to distribute. 

Johnson was initially charged with murder. Former District Attorney Joyce Dudley said at the time that the theory was Johnson knew or should have known that selling fentanyl was dangerous and could result in serious injury or death. 

Johnson will be sentenced in Santa Barbara County Superior Court on Oct. 14. He faces a state prison sentence of eight years and eight months, according to the District Attorney’s Office. 

He remains in County Jail custody with no bail. 

“This case is a tragic reminder of the dangers of fentanyl and the ongoing opioid epidemic in our community,” District Attorney John Savrnoch said in a statement. 

“The manufacture, sale, distribution, or sharing of controlled substances is extremely hazardous. When such conduct results in death, perpetrators may be prosecuted for murder. We thank the Santa Barbara Police Department detectives for their thorough investigation and Senior Deputy District Attorney Anthony Davis and the prosecution team for seeking justice for the victim and his family.”

2 Lompoc Men Serving Prison Sentences for Fentanyl Death at County Jail 

Last year, two Lompoc men were sentenced to prison for distributing fentanyl in the Santa Barbara County Northern Branch Jail that led to the death of one person in custody and serious injury to another. 

Kaelen Jacobkeali Wendel, 34, and Michael Villapania, 37, faced federal charges in the case. 

Wendel, who smuggled the fentanyl into the jail in October 2022, was found guilty by a federal jury and sentenced to 20 years in prison. 

Wendel handed some of the drug to Villapania, with the expectation of commissary goods in return, authorities said. 

Villapania sold the drug to a man who shared it with another inmate. The men overdosed, and jail deputies and nurses performed CPR and administered multiple doses of overdose-reversing Narcan to both of them. 

Santa Maria man Edgar Mescua Estrada, 37, also known as Edgar Estrada Amezcua, died, and the other man was revived, according to the Sheriff’s Office. 

Villapania pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of fentanyl. He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison, according to the Justice Department. 

Wendel is in custody at USP Atwater in California and has a release date of Sept. 28, 2040 according to the Bureau of Prisons. 

Villapania is in custody at FCI Three Rivers in Texas and has a release date of March 22, 2029, according to the Bureau of Prisons.