After the death of a 12-year-old girl from a Fentanyl overdose in San Jose, California, a 16-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with murder for allegedly selling the drug to her.
San Jose Police arrested the juvenile, whose identity is not released because he is a minor, on January 25.
According to Deputy District Attorney Donald Shearer, the girl died on November 14, 2020, after ingesting what she thought was a Percocet pill.
The 12-year-old girl was identified as Dalilah Julianna Mederos Guerrero, who met with the teenager and two other minors when she bought an “M-30” pill.
In Santa Clara County, generic Percocet (oxycodone) pills are sold under street names such as “M-30s,” “M-box-30s,” “pressed blues,” “blues,” and “Oxy.” However, sometimes the pills sold on the street are not the actual generic pharmaceutical, but instead an imitation of it. These counterfeit pills can contain Fentanyl.
Dalilah was seen lining up a crushed pill in a video watched by prosecutors. Once she consumed the substance, she passed out and began snoring, which is an indication of a Fentanyl overdose.
She was transported to Regional Medical Center in San Jose, where she was pronounced dead.
Deputy District Attorney Donald Shearer said in regards to the boy, “He isn’t some innocent victim in this. He’s someone that knew that he could obtain these pills, and when he passed them off on a 12-year-old girl, he consciously disregarded life.”
The 16-year-old’s Google Photos account showed screenshots of public service warnings about Fentanyl overdoses. The dates on the photos were before the girl’s death.
Dalilah became the youngest person to die from a Fentanyl overdose in Santa Clara County in 2020.Â
The arrest comes after another child recently died due to Fentanyl.
Earlier this month in Hartford, Connecticut, an unidentified 13-year-old boy died on January 15 from an apparent Fentanyl overdose. Staff members at the Sports and Medical Science Academy thought the teen was sick when he initially fell ill at the school on January 13, unaware that he was experiencing an overdose.
Two other students were also exposed to the drug at the school, but were released after receiving medical aid.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said that investigators discovered forty little bags believed to possibly contain drugs in two of the academy’s classrooms and its gymnasium. It was later revealed that the bags’ contents consisted of Fentanyl in powdered form.
The school had to be shut down and cleaned to prevent any other students from coming in contact with the substance.
On January 26, Hartford Police announced that one hundred bags of Fentanyl matching the ones found at the school were discovered in the teen’s bedroom.
The department said in a statement, “This fentanyl was packaged in the same manner as the bags located at the school, had the same identifying stamp, and tested at an even higher purity level (60% purity).”
Investigators are now looking for the person who supplied the teen with the drugs.
The increasing number of children’s deaths from drug overdoses is pushing city officials in the Hartford area to educate staff, families, and the community about ways to prevent these types of incidents. Hartford city officials have requested naloxone (Narcan) be made available for schools’ use in case of a student overdose, as well as training on overdose awareness and protection.
Dr. Craig Allen, the vice president of addiction services for Hartford HealthCare’s Behavioral Health Network, said, “Naloxone should be available in all schools, and there should be education on signs and symptoms of overdose and how to use this. Unfortunately, a horrible incident like this happens and suddenly everyone’s vision is 20/20.”
Fifty to a hundred times more potent than morphine, the drug is typically used to treat those with severe pain, typically due to cancer. However more people are ingesting Fentanyl, whether through purposeful abuse or accidental exposure to the synthetic opioid, based on statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to CDC figures, overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids were nearly twelve times higher in 2019 than in 2013. The CDC has also suggested that overdose-related deaths increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethan’s Fund Against Addiction, an advocacy group created by two parents who lost their son, Ethan Monson-Dupuis, to a heroin overdose in 2016, strives to save others. They conduct 5K runs, offer resources to those battling addictions, and provide a community of support.
