SANTA ANA, California – Federal authorities today announced seven criminal cases against drug dealers who sold fentanyl-laced narcotics that caused fatal overdoses in Orange County, including one case in which three people died in Newport Beach.

          The sweep has resulted in the arrest of six defendants pursuant to federal grand jury indictments or criminal complaints. One charged defendant is a fugitive currently being sought by authorities.

          All seven defendants are charged with distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. If convicted of this offense, each defendant would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a potential sentence of life without parole.

          “The opioid crisis has resulted in the widespread distribution of fentanyl and a horrific trail of misery resulting from the untimely death of tens of thousands of Americans each year,” said United States Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison. “These cases highlight two important lessons, with the first being that many street drugs are contaminated with an extremely powerful opioid that often leads to death. The second is that narcotics dealers face severe consequences in federal court when the distribution of their products results in a fatal overdose.”

          “Often when we discuss the rampant rise of drug-caused deaths there’s a focus on numbers, but today’s announcement is an important reminder that these numbers are more than that – these are our children, loved ones and friends,” said DEA Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Bill Bodner. “Fentanyl does not discriminate and it’s affecting every community, ethnicity and generation throughout our country. As we tackle the fentanyl crisis locally, we are intent on bringing justice to victims and their families, while putting drug dealers on notice that even selling one pill can have harsh federal penalties.”

          The cases announced today are the result of investigations by the DEA’s Overdose Justice Task Force, which was created to address opioid-related deaths in the greater Los Angeles area, most of which are caused by the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Under the Overdose Justice program for the DEA’s Los Angeles Field Division, DEA agents collaborate with local law enforcement to analyze evidence to determine if there are circumstances that might lead to a federal criminal prosecution, and, if so, proactively target the drug trafficker. Since the start of the Overdose Justice program in 2018, the DEA has worked with an ever-expanding list of local police agencies to obtain approximately three dozen federal indictments that specifically charge death resulting from narcotics trafficking.

          The victims in these cases are of diverse backgrounds, with two of the deceased victims being minors and one a community college student. In most of the cases, the victims did not know they were ingesting fentanyl, which can be deadly in tiny amounts. Some of the alleged drug traffickers knew or had reason to believe their products contained fentanyl, even though they claimed to be selling other narcotics.

          All of the case were filed in United States District Court in Santa Ana and will be prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office:

          Indictments and criminal complaints contain allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.