Sale of Drug in Drowning Puts Man in Prison

An Orange County judge Wednesday sentenced 30-year-old Mark E. Taylor to 15 years to life in prison on a murder conviction that resulted from a PCP sale to a young man who later drowned while under the influence of the drug.

“This is a sad case of two young men swept up in this drug culture,” said Superior Court Judge Richard J. Beacom. “I feel the same sadness for Mr. Taylor and his family as I do for the victim. But society must draw the line. I don’t think this one case is going to turn the tide of history. But if it stops somebody. . . . “

Taylor’s attorneys had sought probation for him.

The victim, 18-year-old Adrian Obregon of Montebello, drowned after going into the water off Huntington State Beach on April 29. Taylor, of Huntington Beach, was arrested the next day, shortly after the body washed ashore.

Witnesses testified that Taylor had sold PCP to Obregon and some friends shortly before Obregon was last seen in the water. The group of young men put together a total of $4.50 for the drugs, according to testimony.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas J. Borris said it was the first case in California in which a drug dealer was convicted of murder in a drug-related death that was not an overdose. “But it was the PCP which made the victim lose control in the water,” he said.