Bouncer gets 18 months for dealing drugs in Newport Beach

A 49-year-old former security manager for a Newport Beach bar, who was acquitted of distributing fentanyl that killed a man at the club seven years ago, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in federal prison for possessing and dealing other drugs.

Sean Robert McLaughlin was acquitted Oct. 26 of one count of distribution of furanyl fentanyl resulting in death and serious bodily injury. Jurors deliberated for about a day.

However, McLaughlin was convicted of a count of distribution of cocaine, and four counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA and hydrocodone.

McLaughlin would have faced 20 years to life in prison if convicted of dealing fentanyl leading to death, his attorney, Dan Chambers, said.

Federal prosecutors argued for 21 months in prison and probation officials recommended 15 months.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter credited McLaughlin for his rehabilitation through Alcoholics Anonymous.

“I want to compliment you on your rehabilitation,” Carter said. “It’s genuine ... On the other hand this is a horrific occurrence.”

Carter said McLaughlin was in a “position of trust” as head of security and he exploited that to deal drugs.

McLaughlin, who relies on a wheelchair, was recently diagnosed with diabetes in addition to other health issues related to pneumonia and a bout with COVID-19, so Carter recommended to prison officials that they prepare for an inmate with significant health issues. Carter also recommended the defendant enroll in a program for addicts that could knock off a few months from his prison term.

McLaughlin was given until June 26 to surrender to authorities. He wanted to stay out of custody so he could still celebrate his wife’s birthday before he goes to prison.

McLaughlin said he got into dealing drugs because his wife was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.

“So when my wife was diagnosed, the love of my life, I didn’t know how to react,” he said. “I went to go get her medication and I learned at that time that medication was not covered by insurance and we could not afford that medication.”

McLaughlin said he was also grieving deaths in the family and was preparing for his mother-in-law to move in with them.

“So we were overextended,” he said. “I made a very poor decision on emotion.”

McLaughlin said he did not believe in counseling, but he reached out for help when he fell into a deep depression following the death at the club. He said he has participated in Alcoholics Anonymous meetings daily.

“I do what I can do to share my experience,’’ he said. “To help people, to prevent them from making the same mistakes ... I have doubled down on my recovery.”

McLaughlin had been accused by prosecutors of selling the lethal dose of fentanyl to 25-year-old Ahmed Said of Santa Ana on Nov. 18, 2016.

Chambers argued that there was a “mystery man” at the bar that night who likely gave the drugs to the victims. He said the lack of fentanyl in the bar and at McLaughlin’s home complicated the argument that his client was the dealer.

In closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Atty. Melissa Rabbani argued that while there was a “mystery man,” who was also dubbed “the haircut guy” at the bar that night, two of the overdose victims who survived testified that McLaughlin sold them the fentanyl.

Said and two other men who overdosed had the “designer drug” in their system, Rabbani argued.

“They told you who gave them those drugs,” she said.

The prosecutor said McLaughlin was an “amateur” drug dealer, who looked up online how to “cut cocaine,” which is how dealers add in other drugs.

“He was selling cocaine, he was doing Google searches and watching videos on how to cut cocaine,” Rabbani argued. “There’s absolutely no reason to watch a video on how to cut cocaine other than you’re getting started as a drug dealer.”

Rabbani also pointed out how McLaughlin deleted messages from his phone after the investigation began and had an iPad wiped.

Another man also overdosed at the bar that night, but he was not a charged victim in the case. Rabbani suggested that perhaps he got drugs from the “haircut guy.”

Rabbani argued that investigators did not find fentanyl in searches of the bar or defendant’s home because he had time to dump them.

“In November of 2016, defendant Sean Robert McLaughlin worked at a bar in Newport Beach known as American Junkie,’’ Assistant U.S. Atty. Bradley Marrett told jurors in his opening statement. “He had two jobs — head of security ... and he was also the bar’s resident drug dealer.”

McLaughlin kept his “stash” in a locker at the bar on Newport Boulevard, Marrett said. When Newport Beach police conducted a search warrant on the bar after the overdoses, “They found a pharmacy of drugs” in the locker McLaughlin allegedly used, Marrett said.

There were “baggies of cocaine ready to be doled out to customers,” the prosecutor said.

Police also found he searched for small glass vials such as the ones “loaded with cocaine” that were found in his locker, the prosecutor said.

Investigators also recovered text messages from patrons to McLaughlin, Marrett said. In one exchange, a patron messaged the defendant, “need a bag,” and McLaughlin responded, “bathroom.”

The bathroom was the one place in the bar without surveillance cameras, Marrett said.

The prosecutor showed jurors surveillance video at American Junkie from when the victims overdosed. The video was accompanied by audio of a 911 call in which a dispatcher attempts to coach security guards to do CPR on the victims as paramedics raced to the scene.

In addition to Said, patrons Joshua Selley and Daron Muratyan overdosed, but they were revived with Naloxone, a drug that can block opioids and save the lives of overdose victims, Marrett said. Another patron, Francisco Alvarado, also overdosed at the bar, but not as a result of the drugs McLaughlin distributed, the prosecutor said.

Chambers said surveillance video shows the “mystery man” going into the bathroom with the four overdose victims.

The unnamed suspect is also seen at the tables of the men, Chambers said. The “mystery man” is seen again returning to the bathroom with the victims and when they exit he returns to their table to resume partying, according to the defense attorney.

Alvarado happened to be partying with a different group of people, Chambers said.

Just before the men overdosed, “Who slinks out? That’s right, the mystery man,” Chambers said.

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