Woman gets 15 to life in first county fentanyl murder case

A 40-year-old Reseda woman was sentenced Sept. 1 to 15 years to life in state prison for selling the fentanyl-laced drug that killed a 28-year-old Simi Valley man — the first fentanyl murder conviction in Ventura County history, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

Charity Faith Wiley pleaded guilty in July to second-degree murder and five additional felonies in connection with the June 2024 death of Devin Kastler and a broader drug-trafficking operation that investigators said spanned multiple jurisdictions. The Thousand Oaks Acorn (Newbury Park) reported on the sentencing, which family members of the victim attended holding his photograph.

For Newbury Park and the wider Conejo Valley, the case is a signal of how aggressively Ventura County prosecutors are pursuing drug suppliers when their products kill — and a sobering reminder of how far the fentanyl supply chain reaches into local communities, from unincorporated Simi Valley to the San Fernando Valley neighborhoods where the drugs originated.

What happened to Devin Kastler

Kastler died after overdosing on a combination of fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that can be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine — and xylazine, a veterinary sedative not approved for human use. The mixture, often called "tranq-dope" on the street, has increasingly appeared in overdose deaths nationally.

The case began June 6, 2024, when the Ventura County Fentanyl and Overdose Crimes Units responded to a report of an apparent overdose at a residence in unincorporated Simi Valley. Drugs and paraphernalia were found in Kastler's room, and toxicology testing later confirmed lethal levels of the drugs in his system.

According to prosecutors, digital evidence from Wiley's cellphone showed that an associate had warned her about selling the fentanyl-xylazine mixture, telling her the drug was killing people and that he would not sell it to Kastler. Wiley responded that fentanyl should not be sold to people who "dabble," prosecutors said. Five days later, on June 5, 2024, she allegedly sold the drug to Kastler. He died the next day.

A sophisticated trafficking operation

Wiley was arrested March 5, 2025, at her Los Angeles County home by investigators with VC FOCUS — a regional task force that includes the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, Simi Valley Police Department, Oxnard Police Department, the District Attorney's Office, the California Highway Patrol and federal agencies — working to trace the sources of drugs entering Ventura County.

Searches of her home, a separate apartment authorities said she used for drug operations, and storage locations uncovered a large-scale operation:

• More than three pounds of fentanyl
• One and a half pounds of methamphetamine
• 2.6 pounds of counterfeit Xanax pills suspected of containing fentanyl
• Packaged cocaine and heroin
• More than $96,000 in cash and three firearms, including two that were loaded; one stolen gun had been obtained in exchange for drugs, investigators said

Prosecutors said investigators also recovered numerous cellphones, stolen and fraudulent identification documents, a money counter, packaging materials, hundreds of pay-owe sheets and what the DA's office described as a business plan for the drug operation.

"She had business plans; she kept meticulous notes; she had a pricing strategy and she preyed upon some of the most vulnerable members of our society," Deputy District Attorney Devin Mirchi of the Major Crimes Narcotics Unit said at sentencing. Mirchi prosecuted the case with Senior Deputy District Attorney Audry Nafziger.

Wiley also pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing fentanyl for sale, possession of a controlled substance while armed with a firearm, money laundering and conspiracy. She admitted sentencing allegations that the crimes involved multiple jurisdictions and were carried out with planning, sophistication or professionalism.

A family's grief, in court

At the Sept. 1 sentencing hearing, Kastler's mother, father, aunt and a close friend addressed the court. His mother, Kristi Kastler, described the permanent rupture of her life.

"When my child Devin died, my life did not simply change. The life I knew ended as well," she told the court. "There is a version of me who existed before and now a version of the person I have had to become. Charity knew her drugs were dirty. She didn't just sell Devin drugs, she sold him something that would ultimately take away his future."

Why it matters locally

The sentence marks the first time a defendant has been convicted of fentanyl-related murder in Ventura County, and it reflects a broader prosecutorial strategy of treating fatal drug sales as homicide when dealers know the danger of what they're selling. Under California law, a 15-years-to-life term means Wiley will serve at least 15 years before parole eligibility — and parole is not guaranteed.

The stakes for the region remain high. According to the District Attorney's Office, the Ventura County Medical Examiner recorded 216 overdose deaths in 2025, with fentanyl — alone or combined with other drugs — detected in 134 of them. That works out to fentanyl involvement in well over half of the county's overdose deaths.

For residents of Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and neighboring communities, the case underscores both the lethality of the current illicit drug supply and the county's willingness to commit significant investigative resources — through VC FOCUS and the DA's Major Crimes Narcotics Unit — to hold suppliers accountable when sales turn fatal.

Wiley will serve her sentence in state prison. The District Attorney's Office has indicated continued focus on fentanyl trafficking cases, meaning the legal strategy tested in this case could become a template for prosecutions to come.