10 fentanyl overdoses of North Texas teens, including 3 deaths, lead to federal charges

Two fentanyl dealers accused of being involved in as many as 10 overdoses of North Texas middle and high school students, three of them fatal, have been federally charged, authorities said.

Luis Eduardo Navarrete, 21, and Magaly Mejia Cano, 29, are charged via criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton announced. They were arrested at Navarrete’s home in Carrollton on Friday and made their initial court appearances Monday afternoon.

“To deal fentanyl is to knowingly imperil lives. To deal fentanyl to minors — naive middle and high school students — is to shatter futures,” Simonton said in a news release. “These defendants’ alleged actions are simply despicable. We can never replace the three teenagers whose lives were lost, nor can we heal the psychological scars of those who survived their overdoses. But we can take action to ensure these defendants are never allowed to hand a pill to a child again.”

According to the complaint, Navarrete and Cano are accused of dealing fake Percocet and Oxycontin pills laced with fentanyl, commonly known as “M30s,” to multiple juvenile drug dealers, mostly students at R.L. Turner High School. The teenage dealers in turn sold the drugs to their fellow students at R.L. Turner High School and to younger students at Dewitt Perry and Dan F. Long Middle schools, authorities said.

Nine students at those schools — ranging in age from 13 to 17 — suffered 10 overdoses, three of which were fatal, between September 2022 and this month.

One victim, a 14-year-old girl who overdosed twice and suffered temporary paralysis, told law enforcement the pills she ingested came from juvenile dealers who obtained the drugs from Navarrete. She also confirmed she had purchased pills directly from Navarrete in the past.

“Selling drugs alone is a serious transgression, but to sell deadly fentanyl to a juvenile is one of the most shocking and callous ways to hurt a community,” said Eduardo A. Chavez, special agent in charge of the DEA Dallas Field Division, in the release. “DEA Dallas and our partners from the Carrollton Police Department will work to identify and hold accountable every individual who thinks they can profit by exposing our neighborhoods, and our children, to this deadly substance.”

Law enforcement conducting surveillance at Navarrete’s home saw him engage in a hand-to-hand transaction with a 16-year-old dealer on Jan. 12, according to the release. Officers followed the teen into a bathroom at R.L. Turner, where he holed up in a stall to snort the drugs. He later admitted that he’d obtained the pills – which he called “perc pills” – from Navarrete.

If convicted, Navarrete and Cano each face up to 20 years in federal prison.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Office and the Carrollton Police Department conducted the investigation with the assistance of school resource officers from the Carrollton – Farmer’s Branch Independent School. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Calvert is prosecuting the case.

“I am very appreciative of our partnerships with all federal agencies,” Carrollton Police Chief Roberto Arredondo said. “I am proud of the Carrollton Police Department’s work in providing the necessary evidence to the DEA. We continue to work with the DEA and other federal partners to rid our great community of this poison. We take this very seriously; there is nothing more precious than our children.”

Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District parents are invited to a Student Health Advisory Council meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday which will include a presentation on fentanyl, district officials said. The meeting will be in the Texas Room at the Educational Services Division Complex Building B, 1820 Pearl St.

The district has previously held information sessions for parents in November 2022 and sent out communications to parents about the dangers of fentanyl in its schools, district officials said in a statement Monday. The district has also developed drug awareness programs for students through its crisis team and two licensed chemical dependency counselors.

Also in November 2022, the district said, it obtained Narcan for all its campuses, a drug used to treat opioid overdoses.

“We must come together as a community to solve this problem that is endangering our children,” Brian Moersch, the district’s interim superintendent, said in the statement. “We strongly encourage adults to engage in open conversations with children about the risks of drugs, especially fentanyl.”

The district will announce new drug awareness sessions in the coming weeks, according to the statement.

Illicitly produced, fentanyl-laced pills often look similar to legitimate prescription pills like Oxycontin or Percocet, but can pose significantly more danger, federal authorities said. On the street, these pills are often referred to as “M30s” (a reference to the markings on some of the pills), “blues,” “perks,” “yerks,” “china girls” or “TNT.” DEA research shows that six out of 10 pills laced with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose. For resources, visit dea.gov/onepill.