By Miriam Raftery
Photo: Former Mayor Mary Sessoms
June 22, 2017 (Lemon Grove) – The U.S. Attorney’s office has revealed that Mary Sessoms Baker, 30, the woman charged in a fentanyl drug trafficking case, is the daughter of former Lemon Grove Mayor Mary Sessoms, the San Diego Reader reports.
Baker is accused of acting as a courier to transport narcotics in three separate trips. Federal agents stopped her in a rented vehicle and found 15 kilograms of fentanyl, then found 30 more kilograms at her home. The Department of Justice has described the bust as one of the largest seizures of fentanyl ever nationwide, as ECM previously reported.
Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and has been added to street drugs including heroin and counterfeit narcotic pain pills, with sometimes lethal results. As little as 3 milligrams can be fatal; the 44.14 kilograms seized is enough to result in 14 million deadly doses, if misued. Fentanyl is also prescribed as a last-resort opioid prescription for severe pain.
The former Mayor’s daughter was taken into custody along with two others, Jonathan Ibarra, 45, and Hector Fernando Garcia, 46. If convincted, they could face up to life in prison and huge fines.
Mary Sessoms served as Mayor of Lemon Grove from 1996 to 2016, also serving on the San Diego Regional Association of Governments (SANDAG) board and was a respected leader in East County.
Her daughter has served as her campaign manager, and also ran unsuccessfully for Council in 2014.
Don Bauder, reporter for the Reader, posted an update indicating that the former Mayor has indicated her daughter was caring for her four-year-old son, has worked full-time and completed requirements for a degree in water/wastewater.
The former Mayor provided this statement to Bauder after her daughter’s arrest. “I am hugely disappointed in her judgment. But as her mom, I stand with her and will work with her as she pays her price to society and becomes the person I know she can be. I love my daughter and will support her through this.”
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