Jacob Austin Parr, 45, is charged with second-degree murder for the 2022 death of Isaak Quintin Ruiz.

Jurors went behind closed doors after the prosecution and defense delivered closing statements on Dec. 19, and they deliberated part of the day on Dec. 20, when Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hollenhorst gave them a rest period through Christmas and New Year’s. He directed the panel to return to the Riverside Hall of Justice on Jan. 2.

Parr is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center.

According to a defense brief filed in April, Parr and Ruiz had been friends for several years, but Parr had only sold narcotics to the victim periodically in the four months prior to his death.

Testimony by sheriff’s investigators during the defendant’s 2023 preliminary hearing indicated Ruiz had attempted to kick his drug habit, trying to detox in a rehabilitation program, but he continued to “struggle with opiates.”

“The decedent’s girlfriend … told police that he struggled with addiction and went from using heroin to fentanyl,” the brief stated. “She said that it was difficult for him to resist smoking whatever substance he had in his possession.”

Court papers said Parr was endeavoring to put his life on track and quit using or selling drugs, but when Ruiz couldn’t find a seller, he turned to the defendant.

“(Ruiz) rejected offers for less lethal opiates and said he would save his money for ‘fetty,”‘ the brief said.

In a text exchange between the victim and defendant in February 2022, Parr warned, “You gotta be careful, bro’. This (expletive) will kill you if you haven’t used in a while,” according to the narrative.

At one point, before allegedly selling fentanyl to Ruiz, the defendant offered him Narcan, an opioid antagonist that can arrest the effects of fentanyl and save victims who have taken a potentially lethal amount, the brief said. Ruiz didn’t accept.

On the night of April 22, 2022, Parr met Ruiz at a Norco restaurant, allegedly selling him an undetermined amount of fentanyl, then the two left in Parr’s car and drove to a nearby 76 Station on Sixth Street, where Ruiz stepped into the men’s room and locked the door, according to investigators.

Parr drove away.

The victim consumed the fentanyl he’d purchased and passed out on the floor. He was in there for two hours before the clerk finally unlocked the door to check on him, discovering him dead, according to investigators.

Detectives ultimately identified Parr as the person who allegedly sold the fentanyl to the victim, culminating in his arrest on July 12, 2022. The defendant has a prior conviction for misdemeanor DUI.

Since February 2021, the District Attorney’s Office has charged over 30 people countywide in connection with fentanyl poisonings.

In November 2023, prosecutors closed the books on the county’s first fentanyl murder case to go before a jury, culminating in the conviction of 34- year-old Vicente David Romero, who was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the 2020 death of a Temecula woman.

Public health statistics show there were 550 known fentanyl-related fatalities countywide in 2023, a 9% increase from 2022, when there were 503. Data from 2024 hasn’t been published.

Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, principally in China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says the drug is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by cartels. It’s 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine and can be mixed into any number of street narcotics and prescription drugs, without a user knowing what he or she is consuming. Ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.

Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 45 years old.

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Christopher Patrick Laney, 34, of Lancaster, California, was arrested on several charges, including distribution of fentanyl resulting in death, four counts of knowingly and willfully operating an unregistered aircraft in furtherance of a felony narcotics crime, and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, Martin Estrada, US attorney for the central district of California, said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Estrada did not immediately respond to an email seeking information about an attorney representing Laney.

Between December 2022 and January 2023, Laney allegedly used an unregistered drone to deliver fentanyl and other narcotics from his home to a nearby church parking lot, where another person received the drugs and gave them to customers, including a woman who died of a fatal overdose in January 2023, federal prosecutors said.

Video captured by the drone showed Laney used it at least three other times to distribute drugs, they said.

A grand jury indictment also accuses Laney of having an AR-15 and two 9mm semiautomatic pistols at his home, federal prosecutors said. The firearms, referred to as “ghost guns” by law enforcement officials, lacked serial numbers, which makes them difficult to trace.

If convicted of all charges, Laney would face 25 years to life in prison.

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Jeremiah David Carlton, 21, of Canyon Lake is accused in the death of the teenager, identified in court documents only as “J.G.”

Carlton is charged with second-degree murder, transportation of controlled substances for sale and possession of controlled substances for sale.

During a pretrial hearing Tuesday at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta, Riverside County Superior Court Judge John Monterosso conferred with the prosecution and defense regarding a specific date for the next stage of proceedings, and both sides indicated they would be prepared to move forward at the end of next month.

Carlton is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center.

His co-defendant, 21-year-old Raymond Gene Tyrrell of French Valley, who was charged separately, pleaded guilty in July to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to three years in state prison. However, due to the amount of time he’d already spent in jail awaiting disposition of the case, along with other sentencing credits, Judge Stephen Gallon converted his prison term to what’s known as a “paper commitment,” enabling Tyrrell to instantly go on parole.

Sgt. Rick Espinoza of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department alleged that Carlton and Tyrrell provided the drugs that led to the death of J.G. on the night of Feb. 24, 2021, at a residence in the 35000 block of Sugar Maple Street, near Leon Road.

Espinoza said deputies were called to the location to investigate two possible fentanyl poisonings and discovered the girl and a man, whose identity was not released, comatose. Both were taken to a regional trauma center, where the man was revived but the girl succumbed to the toxic ingestion.

“Detectives conducted an investigation and developed information that this was possibly a homicide,” the sergeant said, declining to elaborate on the circumstances.

Tyrrell was summoned to the sheriff’s Southwest station in Murrieta a day later and interviewed by detectives, after which he was taken into custody. Carlton was served with an arrest warrant and taken into custody at his residence.

Neither defendant had documented prior felony convictions.

Since February 2021, the District Attorney’s Office has charged over 30 people countywide in connection with fentanyl poisonings.

In November, prosecutors closed the books on the county’s first fentanyl murder case to go before a jury, culminating in the conviction of 34- year-old Vicente David Romero, who was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the 2020 death of a Temecula woman. District Attorney Mike Hestrin said it was the first fentanyl murder conviction in the state.

According to public health statistics, there were 550 known fentanyl- related fatalities countywide in 2023, a 9% increase from 2022, when there were 503.

Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, principally in China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says the synthetic opioid is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by cartels.

Fentanyl is 80-100 times more potent than morphine and can be mixed into any number of street narcotics and prescription drugs, without a user knowing what he or she is consuming. Ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.

Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 45 years old.

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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — A 23-year-old man accused of giving a fatal dose of fentanyl to his then-17-year-old girlfriend in an unincorporated area of Riverside County near Desert Hot Springs two years ago was arrested near the Mexico border, authorities announced Tuesday.

Michael Garcia was arrested around 7:45 p.m. Monday in the El Centro area and returned to Indio, where he was booked into the John Benoit Dentention Center on suspicion on unlawfully furnishing a controlled substance to a minor and felony child endangerment, according to inmate records and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

He was being held in liue of $75,000 bail and tentatively scheduled to appear in court for arraignment Thursday in Indio.

Around 9 a.m. Aug. 21, 2022, deputies from the Palm Desert Sheriff’s Station responded to a report of an unresponsive teen girl in her bedroom in the 15000 block of Via Quedo, according to Sgt. Sean Liebrand of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

“Lifesaving measures were unsuccessful, and the juvenile was ultimately pronounced deceased,” Liebrand said in a statement. “The investigation determined the female juvenile had overdosed on fentanyl.”

The department’s Overdose Investigations and Narcotics Unit assumed the investigation and identified Garcia as the suspect who gave her the fentanyl, according to Liebrand.

According to a court declaration in support of his arrest, Garcia was present when deputies responded to the home, and he told investigator James Peters that the previous night he “purchased M-30 pills, which he stated he knew contained fentanyl, and provided them to (the girl), who smoked them.”

“Michael said he awoke the next morning to find (her) overdosing,” Peters wrote in the declaration.

According to Peters, Garcia also told him that he knew the girl was only 17 years old but he had a sexual relationship with her for several months and was buying her fentanyl even though he knew she had been released from a residential rehab for fentanyl addiction a few weeks before her fatal overdose.

More suspects and arrests were expected in the case, Liebrand said at the time. It was not immediately clear if additional arrests have been made in connection to the case.

Anyone with additional information on the case was asked to call Peters at 951-955-1700 or Investigator Dan Shaffer at 951-955-1700.

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MURRIETA, CA — A Perris resident was arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder for allegedly supplying a fatal dose of fentanyl to a 22-year-old man who died in Murrieta.

Miguel Angel Gonzalez, 19, was taken into custody following a two-month investigation by the Murrieta Police Department that began around 9:13 p.m. Feb. 20 when officers received a 911 call about a possible drug overdose in the 35000 block of Mitchell Road.

Police and Murrieta Fire & Rescue responded and found the unconscious victim. Despite life-saving measures, he was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity was not released.

It was determined the victim ingested fentanyl and died as a result of an overdose, police said.

During their investigation, police identified Gonzalez as the fentanyl supplier. Details on how law enforcement tracked the death to him were not disclosed.

After a search warrant was served Thursday at Gonzalez’s home near Redlands Boulevard and San Jacinto Avenue, he was taken into custody. Jail records show he was booked into Southwest Detention Center on suspicion of murder. He was being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

The investigation is still ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective John Ferrulli at 951-461-6827 or jferrulli@murrietaca.gov, or Sgt. Jay Elliott at 951-461-6395 or jelliott@murrietaca.gov.

Murrieta police released a statement about the dangers of fentanyl:

“Fentanyl, is a synthetic opioid that is at the heart of the most recent drug epidemic and is the leading cause of death for people ages 18-45 in the United States. This dangerously potent drug is approximately 50 times stronger than Heroin and 100 times stronger than Morphine. Fentanyl is often found mixed in with other illicit drugs including Heroin, Cocaine, and Methamphetamine. Counterfeit pills posing as Xanax or Oxycodone often contain Fentanyl because it is so cheap to make. These counterfeit pills are easy to purchase, widely available, and often contain deadly doses of fentanyl. Pills purchased outside of a licensed pharmacy are illegal, dangerous, and potentially lethal.”

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