Man accused in fentanyl death no-show at court, bond forfeited
INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – A man accused of facilitating the fentanyl poisoning of a 22-year-old Rancho Mirage resident failed to make a scheduled court appearance today, prompting a judge to revoke his bail and issue a warrant for his arrest.
Riley Jacob Hagar, 29, of Cathedral City was acquitted in March of murder for the 2022 death of Travis O’Brien. However, jurors deadlocked on whether to convict Hagar of voluntary manslaughter.
The defendant was released from custody after posting a $30,000 bond.
He was due to appear for a retrial status conference at the Larson Justice Center in Indio Friday, but when the case was called, Hagar was nowhere to be found, according to court minutes.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Anthony Villalobos rescinded his bond and signed a bench warrant for his arrest.
Hagar is accused in the death of Travis O’Brien on New Year’s Day 2022.
“Mr. Hagar is the connect. He is the plug,” Deputy District Attorney Steve Sorensen told jurors in March. “Hagar told Travis the date, the location and other information for how to acquire the (fentanyl-packed) pills.”
The prosecutor said O’Brien “went to the person he knew could facilitate (the sale of the drugs)” — Hagar.
Arrangements were made for the victim to procure the fentanyl so that he could sell them to someone else at a profit, according to the prosecution. But in addition to selling the hundreds of M30 “blues,” O’Brien consumed several of the synthetic opiods, investigators alleged.
The young man checked into Room 149 at the Motel 6 in the 69000 block of Highway 111 in Rancho Mirage, where he intended to stay on Jan. 1, 2022, according to trial testimony. He was found dead there that afternoon.
“(Hagar) deliberately acted with conscious disregard to human life. He didn’t care,” Sorensen said.
Defense attorney Ryan Markson rejected the prosecution’s interpretation of what happened, insisting Hagar wasn’t the one who directly provided the fentanyl and had no idea of the lethality of the pills that the victim ingested.
“This is the real thing. It’s as real as it gets,” Markson told the jury. “Accountability is at the essence of the justice system. O’Brien caused his own death.”
He asked jurors whether there was anything fair about trying to make his client “accountable for Travis’ death?”
The attorney reminded jurors that O’Brien contacted Hagar, and that the latter “wasn’t in the business of selling fentanyl,” but didn’t want to ignore the request for help setting up a transaction.
“My client is guilty of poor judgment, not murder,” Markson said.
Hagar was arrested in August 2022, following an investigation by the sheriff’s Overdose Death Investigations Unit. He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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