Fentanyl death case from Murrieta transferred to federal court
City News Service
MURRIETA (CNS) – A 21-year-old man accused of providing a fatal dose of fentanyl to a Murrieta resident will be tried in federal court, instead of state court, after he was indicted for the offenses by a federal grand jury, prosecutors confirmed today.
Miguel Angel Gonzalez was arrested last year following an investigation by the Murrieta Police Department into the death of a 22-year-old man identified in court documents only as “S.D.”
Gonzalez had been charged with second-degree murder and transportation of controlled substances for sale.
His case was assigned to the Southwest Justice Center, but during apretrial hearing Friday at the Murrieta courthouse, Riverside County Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson was informed a grand jury indictment had been handed down at U.S. District Court.
“The state case against this defendant was dismissed, as there is a superseding indictment at the federal level for the same facts,” District Attorney’s Office spokesman John Hall told City News Service.
The specific charges in the federal case were not immediately available, and it wasn’t clear when Gonzalez would be making his next court appearance.
There was additionally no word on why the matter had been placed before a federal grand jury.
The defendant is being held on $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center.
According to Murrieta police Lt. Brendan Carney, patrol officers were sent to a residence in the 35000 block of Mitchell Road, near Clinton Keith Road, on the night of Feb. 20, 2024, to investigate reports of a “possible drug overdose.”
When police and paramedics reached the location, they found S.D. comatose and initiated resuscitative measures, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, Carney said.
“Officers discovered the 22-year-old male had ingested fentanyl and died,” the lieutenant said.
Detectives worked on developing leads in the case, ultimately identifying Gonzalez as the alleged supplier of the synthetic opiod, according to Carney.
The defendant was tracked to a property in the area of Redlands Boulevard and San Jacinto Avenue in Perris on the afternoon of April 25, 2024, when he was taken into custody without incident.
How Gonzalez and the victim had become acquainted was not disclosed.
Gonzalez has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
Since February 2021, prosecutors have charged more than 30 people in connection with fentanyl poisonings.
Public health statistics indicated there were 328 known fentanyl- related fatalities countywide in 2024, compared to 571 in 2023, a 42% decline.
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.
Fentanyl 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.