FRESNO - A six-count indictment was unsealed today, charging Fresno resident Austin Lloyd Kerns, 53, and Clovis resident Lakota Tehya Wakley, 21, with conspiring to distribute fentanyl. Kerns is also accused of fentanyl distribution and illegally possessing ammunition, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.
According to court documents, from November 2024 until his arrest in December 2024, Kerns conspired with Wakley and others to sell fentanyl pills to customers in Fresno County. On Nov. 23 and 24, 2024, Kerns personally and repeatedly sold fentanyl to a victim that Wakley referred to Kerns for a fee. This victim died soon after of a fentanyl overdose. Upon arresting Kerns at his residence on Dec. 9, 2024, law enforcement seized around 1,000 fentanyl pills, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and handgun parts.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Fentanyl Overdose Resolution Team (FORT), a multi-agency team composed of the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Fresno and Clovis Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Calvin Lee is prosecuting the case.
Kerns and Wakley face maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after considering any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which consider many variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case is part of Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge (S.O.S.), a program designed to reduce the supply of deadly synthetic opioids in high-impact areas and identify wholesale distribution networks and international and domestic suppliers. In July 2018, the Justice Department announced the creation of S.O.S., which is being implemented in the Eastern District of California and nine other federal districts.
