FBI arrests alleged South Lake Tahoe fentanyl dealer linked to 4 overdose deaths
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE – The FBI has announced an arrest in connection to the case of four people who died following suspected fentanyl overdoses in South Lake Tahoe last year.
Back on Feb. 12, 2024, first responders were called to a South Lake Tahoe home for an overdose situation involving multiple patients.
Authorities said three men and one woman were found dead, while a fifth person survived.
Investigators believe the group was sold fentanyl by a dealer who presented the drugs as cocaine just a day before in the parking lot of a South Lake Tahoe church.
The alleged dealer was identified by detectives as 31-year-old South Lake Tahoe resident Timothy Austin Pannell.
On Monday, the FBI's Sacramento Field Office announced that Pannell had been arrested on a federal complaint for felony fentanyl distribution.
South Lake Tahoe Police Department, El Dorado County Probation, and El Dorado County Sheriff's Office all helped the FBI in the investigation.