Twelve defendants for selling narcotics that caused fatal overdoses

JUSTICE

Los Angeles, May 13 (EFE News) .- At least twelve people were accused of selling opioids and narcotics that caused overdoses and the death of buyers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reported Thursday.

The twelve accusations against the suspects are the result of an operation directed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in different cases and each of the defendants faces narcotics distribution charges with a fatal result.

On the list of detainees is Edwin Lopez, 21, a Riverside resident who was arrested this morning.

The young man was indicted for an incident that occurred on May 17, 2020, when he allegedly sold counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to a 20-year-old buyer, who died two days after an overdose.

Evidence in the case indicates that Lopez used the Snapchat social network to negotiate the drug deal and possibly other transactions with the victim, DOJ said in a statement.

In a different case, but the same operation, federal authorities charged Marcos Isaac Rodríguez, alias “Kumar”, 27, of two counts of fentanyl distribution that resulted in death.

In December 2019, Rodriguez sold a 33-year-old man counterfeit oxycodone and pills containing fentanyl, which resulted in his death.

If convicted, each defendant faces at least a minimum of 20 years in prison and up to life in prison without parole, DOJ clarified.

US Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison said in a statement that “the danger posed by opioids is real, both for unwitting users who risk death and for traffickers who face decades in prison for spreading deadly poison in our communities.” .

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