Detectives arrested a 26-year-old suspect drug dealer for the overdose death of his 26-year-old friend. The friend died June 12, 2020, after taking what he thought was Percocet but turned out to be fentanyl. Investigators say the victim purchased pills from the suspect the night he died. The victim and his girlfriend both consumed the pills, yet only the victim’s pill had a fatal dose of fentanyl.
“This case shows you how dangerous illegal fentanyl-laced drugs are,” warned Captain Shelby Shearer. “The victim purchased at least two pills. He took one and his girlfriend the other, and he died. You must assume that unless you get your pain medication from a pharmacy, it’s likely laced with fentanyl, and that can be deadly.”
Over the past nearly eight months, detectives investigated this alleged drug dealer. Ultimately, on March 17, 2021, detectives had enough evidence for probable cause to arrest the suspect on investigation of Substance Abuse Homicide. Officers recovered ten suspected fentanyl-laced Percocet M30 pills after his arrest. The suspect says he knew the victim because they had played football together for four years. The charges alleged the suspect kept selling fentanyl-laced pills even after his friend’s overdose death.
“Fentanyl is a crisis in our community. Recently, King County experienced its two worst weeks ever for overdose deaths. It takes about a grain of sand worth of fentanyl to kill someone. Please, don’t buy these pills off the street. And if you know someone who is, have Narcan on hand. It may be the only way to save their lives,” Shearer added.
Even though the Washington State Supreme Court struck down the Washington law that makes simple drug possession a crime, Bellevue detectives will continue to fully investigate drug dealers.
Case # 20-27861
Bellevue Beat Blog 