RivCo Man Admits Guilt In Fentanyl-Related Death, Sent To Prison

BANNING, CA —A 26-year-old San Jacinto man who supplied a fatal dose of fentanyl to an acquaintance is slated to be sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in state prison.

Samuel Leo Mussaw last month admitted charges of voluntary manslaughter and possession of controlled substances for sale under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors dropped a second-degree murder charge against Mussaw.

Superior Court Judge Jorge Hernandez is expected to impose the stipulated sentence during a hearing Tuesday at the Banning Justice Center.

Mussaw is being held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center in Indio.

He provided a quantity of fentanyl that claimed the life of 23-year- old Adam Young of San Jacinto on March 4, 2021.

According to sheriff's Sgt. Rick Espinoza, deputies and paramedics were called to the 900 block of Cypress Drive, near Malaga Drive, that afternoon to investigate a possible drug overdose. Espinoza said Young was found unconscious and unresponsive in his house. Efforts by first responders to revive him were unsuccessful.

Further investigation revealed the victim had consumed pills containing fentanyl, and detectives were able to track down the source -- Mussaw -- according to the sergeant. The defendant and victim knew one another, but no other details were released.

Espinoza said a search warrant was served at Mussaw's residence in the 100 block of North Dillon Road, where three firearms, a stash of cash "and approximately 2,000 M-30 pills of fentanyl" were seized, according to Espinoza. He was taken into custody without a struggle.

Over two dozen people have been charged with murder in fentanyl- related cases countywide.

In November, the District Attorney's Office closed the books on its first fentanyl murder case to go before a jury, culminating in the conviction of 34-year-old Vicente David Romero, who was sentenced in November to 15 years to life in prison for the 2020 death of a Temecula woman.

According to public safety officials, there were 503 confirmed fentanyl-related fatalities countywide in 2022, compared to just under 400 in 2021, a 200-fold increase from 2016, when there were only two. Statistics for 2023 haven't been released.

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.

The drug is 80 to 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 2 milligrams can be fatal.

Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 45 years old.