The Orange County Register reports that District Attorney Todd Spitzer plans to issue an admonishment in plea deals warning that a dealer found to be involved in another fentanyl sale that results in death could be charged with murder.

Nearby Riverside and San Bernardino counties have charged alleged dealers with murder, and so have San Luis Obispo and Contra Costa counties, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.

“It is a ruse, people are buying Oxycontin and it turns out to be fentanyl,” Spitzer told the newspaper. “It’s like they’re handing you a loaded gun and you don’t know it’s loaded.”

Spitzer has called a press conference for Tuesday to discuss the plan for the county of 3 million people.

The move comes as drug-related deaths are expected to hit a record of 100,000 this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Federal prosecutors have charged suspected fentanyl dealers with murder but it’s not as easy to do under state law. Some California lawmakers have proposed bills to treat fentanyl as a more threatening drug and to warn those convicted of dealing that they could face murder charges for similar such actions that result in death, but those proposals didn’t become law.

In Orange County, Public Defender Martin Schwarz said issuing an advisement lacks legal standing unlike a state-mandated process that exists in cases for driving under the influence.

In Los Angeles County, which is home to a quarter of California’s 40 million people, no plans to stiffen charges against suspected dealers have been announced.

In the Riverside County city of Temecula, Matt CapeIouto, whose 20-year-old daughter Alexandra died after taking what she thought was oxycodone, wants to see change. He said he and his wife found their daughter dead in her bedroom after she went online to look for something to ease depression.

“It was ruled an accidental, noncriminal overdose — but that’s outdated,” CapeIouto said. “That’s not correct. My daughter was poisoned.”

Amy Neville, whose 14-year-old son Alexander died after taking what he thought was Oxycontin, said she doesn’t think the admonishment is enough, but it’s a start.

“Fentanyl will still be here, drug dealers will still be selling,” she said. “When one is arrested, there’s always another one to take their place. But in the end, with the admonishment, at least that dealer is on the hook for future drug dealing.”

AP | Contributed

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FULLERTON, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California man has been charged with throwing rocks at an Asian woman and her 6-year-old son as they drove down the street last month, authorities said Monday.

It comes as violence against Asian Americans across the country has ramped up in the last year, including several high-profile attacks in California.

Roger Janke, 28, of Fullerton, told police that Koreans in the area were trying to control him, the Orange County district attorney’s office said in a news release.

Janke is accused of throwing two rocks at the woman’s vehicle on March 31, damaging her bumper and cracking her windshield in Fullerton, officials said. The 38-year-old woman drove to a park and called 911.

Janke faces felony charges of violation of civil rights and vandalism as well as a felony hate crime enhancement and a misdemeanor count of throwing a substance at a vehicle. He could serve up to six years in prison.

He is being held on $51,500 bail and has pleaded not guilty. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

“A woman and her child should be able to drive down the street without worrying about being attacked because of the color of their skin,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the news release. “Our commitment to continuing to prosecute hate crimes to the fullest extent of the law is sending a strong message to all the haters out there — there is no room for hate here — or anywhere.”

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