Crackdown on fentanyl dealers: Federal and local authorities announce 12 new cases filed
The fight against fentanyl continues as law enforcement officials Tuesday announced a dozen new federal cases targeting fentanyl dealers
During Tuesday's announcement federal authorities, joined by local law enforcement leaders from Torrance, Long Beach and Santa Monica to name a few, discussed their ongoing efforts to combat the proliferation of fentanyl. The extremely powerful synthetic opioid is found in many illicit drugs, killing approximately 70,000 Americans every year.
"We are fully committed to combating the fentanyl crisis, which is wreaking so much destruction across this nation," said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. "Those who traffic in fentanyl should be on notice that our office will hold you accountable and the consequences will be severe."
Accessibility and deception lead to the reasons why fentanyl kills so many. "Social media platforms have made fentanyl widely available to anyone with a smartphone and made every neighborhood an open-air drug market. The deceptive marketing tactics used by the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels have created a vast pool of victims who unknowingly ingested fentanyl and did not make a choice to be harmed or die," said Bill Bodner, DEA Los Angeles special agent in charge.
"Through the DEA Overdose Justice Task Force we continue to send a strong message to individuals who engage in drug trafficking resulting in death or great bodily injury that selling even one fentanyl pill will have significant consequences in the federal criminal justice system."
The 12 new cases, charging 13 defendants, announced Tuesday are a result of the ongoing efforts of the Overdose Justice Task Force, a DEA-led project designed to investigate fatal fentanyl poisonings and identify the individuals who provided the fentanyl that directly caused the deaths.
A few cases that stand out include a 22-year-old Jefferson Park man, Adrian Benavides-Schorgi sold fentanyl-laced pills to two 15-year-old Santa Monica girls who thought they were buying ecstasy. The two suffered life-threatening overdoses.
A 22-year-old man from Ontario, Javier Carlos "Juvy" Cruz, is charged with selling fentanyl to another 26-year-old Ontario man who died the following day. A DEA search of the supplier found 1,500 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl.
Pushing pills at a Valencia mall and park was how Dominick Kingdiamond Alvarado, 22, of Tarzana, allegedly sold fentanyl. Alvarado faces charges of distributing fentanyl in the form of fake Percocet pills that caused the deaths of an 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl.
Two days later, an 18-year-old Santa Clarita resident was found dead by his brother. Alvarado allegedly sold fake pills containing fentanyl to another group of teenagers at the same mall in Valencia where the prior transaction took place. Following this second sale, a 17-year-old girl died of fentanyl poisoning after ingesting the narcotics and suffering an overdose in a Santa Clarita Park.
