LOS ANGELES – (INT) Federal authorities Thursday announced 11 criminal cases against alleged drug dealers who sold or provided narcotics to users who suffered fatal overdoses from opioids such as fentanyl or fentanyl analogues.

As a result of the operation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, each of the 12 defendants named in the 11 cases is charged with distribution of narcotics resulting in death. If convicted, each defendant would face at least a 20-year mandatory minimum prison sentence and a potential maximum sentence of life without parole in federal prison.

Among the suspects is Edwin Lopez, 21, of Riverside, who was arrested on a grand jury indictment that charges him with one count related to a May 17, 2020, transaction in which he allegedly sold counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to a 20-year-old Fontana man who suffered a fatal overdose two days later.

The evidence in the case indicates that Lopez used Snapchat to negotiate the drug deal, and possibly other transactions, with the victim.

Story Date: May 20, 2021