crisis that's difficult to dete.
Fentanyl that's often mixed into or sold as
other drugs is killing thousands of people.
And many young lives in our area have been
cut short by this highly synthetic opioid,
and Yolo County investigators ae
trying to hold people accountab.
Actually, in June of 2021,
the Yolo County District Attorny
issued this statement right her,
saying that they will now requi,
with any plea agreement
involving narcotics trafficking,
that the prosecutors formally
advised defendants that they
could face homicide charges.
That's if they later provide drugs to a
person who dies of a fentanyl overdose.
But why has no suspected fentanl
supplier in Yolo County been
charged despite deaths?
Devin Truby digs deeper.
One pencil point amount of Fentanyl can
change everything. One pill can kill.
He had thought he was taking a Percocet,
and in fact a coroner's report showed
that it was 100% Fentanyl. After
Jake Lee died of an overdose in 2021,
his mother made it her mission
that her son's death not be in .
He passed away immediately.
I mean, it's every parent's abse
worst nightmare. My family's
life has changed forever.
He was such a bright light.
He was so funny and he was realy
on a very good path.
He was getting ready to get his
undergraduate degree in English,
well liked, had tons of friends,
and then this.
Jake's death helped change the
game for Yellow County law
enforcement and prosecutors. Prr
to Christine Son's death,
as well as the other victims of
fentanyl poisoning around that ,
we would treat those cases just
like any other medical overdose
treated as an accidental death,
and they would leave.
Now we treat them like crime sc.
We create a forensic perimeter.
We obtain all the physical evidence we can,
We obtain cell phones,
rewrite search warrants for those phones,
rewrite search warrants or social media.
We treat it just like any
other serious felony crime,
but not one felony.
Second degree murder charge hasn
brought against a fentanyl suppr
in Yolo County since the change.
They were preparing to charge
one suspected supplier,
but the defendant overdosed.
It's not like our standard
second degree murder charge,
and so we want to make sure
we do it right because like
anything else in law enforcemen,
if we accuse a tool,
it gets taken away from us.
Yolo County Public Health Officr
Amy Sisson points out one flaw.
If officials solely rely on the state's
overdose and fentanyl data for Jake Lee,
his death would just now be
appearing in their system.
Right now, the California Depart
of Public Health in in 2023
is only reporting data through
2021 on its opioid dashboard.
So if you're relying on the stae
data and their analysis to look
at opioid and fentanyl overdose,
then you know we're two years behind. One
of many flaws. Here's how it wo.
A county coroner fills out.
A death certificate that goes
to the National Center for
Public Health Statistics.
It then takes 2 years for the
data to come back to the county.
If one of the death certificate
lines says fentanyl, they
use the word opioid or opiate ad
did not specify fentanyl or if
the person filling it out just.
Didn't include that level of de.
Even though they had it then it would
not be classified as a fentanyl death.
Even the White House has taken notice.
The federal government now has
a non fatal overdose dashboard.
The BIND Administration's argument is
that non fatal overdose is a leg
predictor for a future fatal overdose.
Widespread access to this data l
help first responders on the frt
lines target lifesaving interventions,
and help service providers connt
people to lifesaving treatment
for substance use disorder.
Jake Lee's mom, Christy,
has one final plea.
Just keep our eyes open and be e
that the that the problem exist.
Don't think that.
Well, my family, my situation,
this can happen to me because in
and everybody needs to be aware of that.
And Devin joins us now. I don't.
I think one of the biggest quess
this is what can Yolo County do
to speed up their investigations
into these fentanyl deaths?
Well, absolutely, Alex.
Yolo County wants that real time data.
They're now having law enforcemt
alert them of any cases and deaths and
getting the coroner also to give that
death certificate directly to t.
That cuts out that state the middleman.
That's really been slowing.
Things down for us.
And in terms of Christie,
the mother that you saw, she ner
got her justice for her son's d.
The case is closed and they're
no longer investigating.
But she wasn't looking for
one person to be behind bars.
She wants that united movement
for prevention and education.
That is her goal.
And she also now sits on the Yew
County Opioid advisory team.
So she's making the most of it.
And I did have another question.
Or any dealers in our area,
have they been charged at all?
Hilo County tried,
but the dealer himself overdose,
so they weren't able to
bring charges in that case.
We do know that in Placer Count,
dealer received 17 years for manslaughter,
that one in the death of Zach Didier,
a case that we're familiar
and covered here on ABC10.
They're also currently pursuing murder
charges of another dealer as we,
and in Napa County last month
they just charged two people wih
murder charges and fentanyl sal.
All right,
Devin, Thank you so much.
And this is a story that we
will continue to follow.
We do have more information on our website.
If you do want to read more
about the fentanyl crisis,
our digital team has been trackg
deaths across multiple counties.
You can head to abc10.com slash to the point.