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CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

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A Westlake Village drug dealer who admitted to selling hallucinogenic mushrooms to a 17-year-old who was killed when she wandered nude onto the Ventura Freeway and was struck by a vehicle was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson also sentenced Steven Thomas Roman, 31, to six years of supervised release after his prison term, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman with the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

Roman pleaded guilty in April to three felony charges, including felony distribution of illegal drugs that resulted in death. He admitted to involvement in a 2004 drug transaction in Thousand Oaks in which a teen bought a quarter-pound of hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms.

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Victoria “Tia” Nugent, 17, ate the mushrooms with four friends and suffered an adverse reaction; she shed her clothing and walked onto the Ventura Freeway.

A musician who was heading home from a gig in Santa Barbara hit Nugent. The musician was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Roman was arrested last fall by Ventura County authorities. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing ecstasy.

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-- Nicole Santa Cruz

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