SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The Office of the United States Attorney has filed federal charges against three teenagers accused of supplying high schoolers with fentanyl in Monterey County.
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Benjamin Reily Bliss, 18, of Carmel, Louis "Lulu" Alexander, 19, of Monterey, and Brandon William Carranza-Arthur, 19, of Monterey, were arrested in connection with multiple overdoses, the Department of Justice Northern District of California announced Monday.
An investigation into drug distribution to Monterey County high schoolers began as early as October of 2021, but took a turn after a 15-year-old Pacific Grove resident suffered a fatal overdose on March 5.
As part of the investigation, officials interviewed a second teen who also overdosed on March 23, but had survived. According to the complaint, text messages from the teen’s phone connected Bliss to the non-fatal overdose. On March 20, Bliss allegedly drove the victim to San Francisco where the teen purchased a baggie of fentanyl for $250.
Alexander is accused of using Snapchat to offer and sell fentanyl-based counterfeit oxycodone and Xanax pills to high schoolers in the Monterey area. One of the juveniles he is suspected of supplying with drugs suffered a non-fatal overdose in October of 2021.
"The mother of yet another local high school student (who overdosed) reported that 'numerous students are using and addicted to Percocet,'" prosecutors wrote.
Similarly, the complaint filed against Carranza alleges that law enforcement personnel obtained text messages between Carranza and a juvenile establishing that Carranza played a role in supplying drugs to high school students.
Bliss faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for aiding and abetting the distribution of fentanyl, while Alexander and Carranza-Arthur face a term of four years for unlawfully using the internet to advertise or offer to sell or distribute a controlled substance.
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