McALLEN, Texas – A Nevada man suspected of helping a woman commit suicide in Mexico in 2009 has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for trying to smuggle a powerful sedative into the United States.
Jeff Ostfeld of Las Vegas was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty last year to one count of importing a controlled substance. Authorities allege the 36-year-old Ostfeld bought pentobarbital in Mexico and intended to use it for assisted suicides. The drug is used in Texas executions.
Ostfeld was charged days after the ashes of 29-year-old Jennifer Yolanda Malone were spread in her home state of Oregon. She was found dead in a hotel room in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, near the border crossing where Ostfeld was stopped.
The judge said he sentenced Ostfeld on guidelines for voluntary manslaughter.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
