Texas woman sentenced for selling fentanyl from hospital room to undercover agent, twice
Katie Jo Pate (Source: Potter County Sheriff's Office)
AMARILLO, Texas - An Amarillo woman has been sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty to selling fentanyl from her hospital room, twice. Katie Jo Pate, 43, is currently in the Potter County Jail.
Hospital room drug deal
The backstory:
According to court documents, the first situation happened in 2022. Pate was in the hospital after being shot. When Pate got out of bed to use the restroom, a nurse noticed a bag of blue pills on the bed. Pate tried to cover the pills with a blanket, but was unsuccessful. The nurse notified security and the pills were confiscated.
Pate admitted to police the pills were hers, and she intended to sell them for $9 each. She was arrested and her bond was set at $10,000.
The court documents did not reveal information about the shooting that landed her in the hospital.
Undercover sting operation
What we know:
Then in March 2025, there was an undercover sting operation that started when an Amarillo Police Department undercover agent received information that Pate was selling fentanyl. The agent contacted her to buy 100 pills for $2,000.
Pate told the undercover officer she was at the hospital and to meet her there. The court documents did not say why she was in the hospital.
She told the undercover officer her pill source would deliver the drugs to the room after the agent gave her the money and left the room. Once she had the money and the agent was out of the room, 27-year-old Jaqulyn Ann Franco was seen walking into Pate's hospital room. Franco left a few moments later.
Jaqulyn Ann Franco (Source: Potter County Sheriff's Office)
Pate then texted the undercover agent to come back. She told the agent he had to touch her breast to prove he was not a cop. The court documents did not say what happened, but did say Pate gave the agent a baggie of gray and blue pills. The agent put the pills in a hospital glove, then in his pocket and left.
Other law enforcement officers in the hospital arrested Franco in the hospital lobby. She had cash in her possession from the fentanyl purchase.
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Officers then went to Pate's hospital room and found more fentanyl pills in her purse. She denied selling fentanyl that day, but told police she sells drugs to support her habit. She was arrested and her bond was set at $25,000.
She posted bond, but failed to appear in court for the 2022 offense. Court documents show she was on the run for several weeks before police found her at a South Amarillo hotel.
She was held without bond until she went before a Potter County judge where she pleaded guilty to both counts. She was then sentenced to 20 years.
Franco was not listed in the Potter County Jail.
The Source: Information in this article is from court documents from the Potter County District Attorney and the Potter County jail.