Police find more than 1,500 fentanyl pills in Atwater home. What led to the search

Authorities say they found more than 1,500 fentanyl pills during a raid of an Atwater home this week.

Officers with the Merced Police Department Gang Violence Suppression Unit served a search warrant Wednesday morning at the home in the 2000 block of Piro Drive in Atwater, according to a Merced Police Department news release. The search turned up the pills plus scales, packaging material and money.

Officers arrested 26-year-old resident Seth Ingalsbe on multiple warrants related to narcotic sales. Ingalsbe was booked into Merced County Jail on suspicion of multiple felony charges including felony possession or purchase for sale of controlled substance over 1 pound, possession of an assault weapon and possession of a firearm silencer, according to jail records.

Police ask anyone with information regarding the case to contact Officer Arnulfo Centeno at 209-388-7742 or by email at centenoa@cityofmerced.org. Some crimes can be reported through the Merced Police Department website and anonymous tips can be submitted by calling 209-385-4725.

Anonymous tips can also be submitted to law enforcement through the Merced Area Crime Stoppers website.

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that is used for severe pain associated with advanced forms of cancer. Up to 100 times stronger than morphine and impossible to differ from similar drugs by sight, smell or taste, a little fentanyl can be deadly — especially if the person does not know it is present.

There were 6,843 opioid-related overdose deaths statewide in 2021, according to preliminary data from the California Department of Public health, 5,722 of which were related to fentanyl.

That year, the most recent for which data was available, there were 224 fentanyl-related overdose deaths among California teenagers from 15 to 19 years old.

Deaths related to fentanyl have been “increasing at an unpredictable pace,” according to the CDPH.

Often, fentanyl is laced with other drugs like heroin or put into counterfeit pills, according to the CDPH, meaning the person who bought them does not know it or a fentanyl-like substance is there.

McClatchy Washington Bureau reporter Gillian Brassil contributed to this report.