The Riverside County Sheriff's Department is on the lookout for a 22-year-old Desert Hot Springs man they have determined is responsible for the fentanyl-related death of a 17-year-old girl last year.
The Department expects to arrest additional suspects as well.
The Sheriff's Department has been "relentlessly" investigating the death of the Desert Hot Springs teen, and their efforts resulted in identifying the suspect who supplied the deadly drug as Michael Garcia, according to the Sheriff's Department website.
"However, the Riverside Sheriff's Office personnel have been unable to find Garcia," Sgt. Sean Liebrand said on the website.
An arrest warrant has been issued for the missing Garcia, and anyone who knows of his whereabouts is asked to come forward as the search continues, citing extensive efforts over several months to successfully name the fentanyl supplier. With these investigative findings now in the hands of the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, charges have already been filed against Garcia in his absence.
As the search for Garcia continues, investigators also have turned up other suspects in the drug death, which is expected to result in additional arrests, according to Liebrand.
A synthetic opioid more potent than morphine, fentanyl lived up to its deadly reputation, when at approximately 8:57 a.m. on Aug. 21, the Palm Desert Sheriff's Station rushed to a call of an unresponsive juvenile girl in the 15000 block of Via Quedo in the unincorporated area of Desert Hot Springs. Lifesaving efforts could not revive the 17-year-old discovered in a bedroom, where she was pronounced dead from what was determined to be a fentanyl overdose.
Without delay, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Overdose Death Investigations and Narcotics Unit (ODIN) took on the investigation with dogged determination to bring the person who supplied fentanyl to justice.
Anyone with details who could assist in this case is urged to call Master Investigator Jim Peters at 951-955-1700 or Riverside Sheriff's Dispatch at 951-776-1099.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Office took the opportunity to stress that fentanyl and other illegal narcotics can kill or cause severe bodily harm, as the case of this young teenage girl tragically proved.