A convicted felon accused of providing a deadly dose of fentanyl to a 27-year-old Moreno Valley man was in custody in San Bernardino County Thursday, awaiting transfer to Riverside County, where she was expected to face a second-degree murder charge.
Savanna Michelle Carlos, 21, of Moreno Valley is suspected of causing the death of Jesse Jimenez earlier this year.
Carlos is being held at the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center in Devore, where she is serving a jail term for unspecified offenses.
According to Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Sean Liebrand, on Feb. 2, patrol deputies were sent to a residence in the 21600 block of Winding Road, near Yolo Street, to investigate reports of a man down.
Liebrand said the deputies discovered Jimenez unconscious and unresponsive, at which point they attempted lifesaving measures until paramedics arrived and continued to try to resuscitate him, but they couldn't. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
"The coroner's bureau determined Jimenez died as a result of fentanyl poisoning," the sergeant said. "Investigators worked to identify the suspect responsible for selling the fentanyl that killed him. As a result of their efforts, the suspect was identified as Carlos."
He said that detectives went to the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center last week and formally informed the probationer that she would be facing charges in Riverside County once her term of incarceration is completed in San Bernardino County.
The circumstances regarding how Carlos met Jimenez and allegedly supplied him with the fentanyl were not disclosed.
According to court records, she has a prior conviction in Riverside County for forgery.
Since February 2021, about two dozen individuals countywide have been charged with murder in connection with fentanyl poisonings.
According to public safety officials, there were 503 confirmed fentanyl-related fatalities countywide last year, compared to just under 400 in 2021, a 200-fold increase from 2016, when there were only two.
Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, principally in China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says the synthetic opioid is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by cartels. The drug is 80-100 times more potent than morphine and can be mixed into any number of street narcotics and prescription drugs, without a user knowing what he or she is consuming. Ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.
Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 45 years old.
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