Fentanyl Deaths, Arrests Mount In Riverside County

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The Riverside County Sheriff's Department announced more fentanyl-related arrests this week — and deaths.

The arrests are part of an effort by the department to crack down on the illicit synthetic opioid that has killed hundreds of Riverside County residents over the last year.

Many of the victims had no idea they were taking fentanyl, according to law enforcement officials. Some were just innocents.

The latest reported deaths include a 2-month-old baby girl in Riverside and a 35-year-old man in La Quinta. There may have been others, but these fatalities were announced this week because arrests were made in the cases.

The infant girl died due to her father's carelessness, according to prosecutors. Donald Charles Wallace III, 32, of Lake Mathews is being held responsible for his daughter's death from fentanyl poisoning. He pleaded not guilty Thursday to willful child cruelty and a sentence-enhancing allegation of corporal injury on a child causing death, according to court records. He is being held at Riverside's Robert Presley Detention Center in lieu of $75,000 bail.

On Tuesday, deputies arrested Hector Cardona, 40, of Indio, according to the sheriff's department. His arrest follows a call dating back to April 22, 2021, about an unresponsive man in the 53000 block of Troon Trail in La Quinta. When deputies arrived, they found Gregory Glenn, 35, dead — a victim of fentanyl poisoning, the sheriff's department said.

After months of investigation, it was determined that Cardona sold Glenn the fentanyl that killed him, the department reported.

According to Sgt. Soto of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, Cardona was being held in federal custody. The charges were not immediately available.

Some alleged drug dealers are being charged with second-degree murder in connection with fentanyl poisoning deaths, and Sheriff Chad Bianco and District Attorney Mike Hestrin have promised they will continue harsh punishment for fentanyl peddlers whose products kill.

The Riverside County District Attorney's Office has filed murder charges against 13 defendants in 12 fentanyl poisoning cases, according to John Hall, spokesperson for the DA's office.

Still, the fentanyl arrests continue. Two other people were taken into custody this week on suspicion of selling the drug. Amanda Listoe, 31, and Gustavo Chavez, 32, both Ontario residents, were picked up Tuesday by sheriff's deputies in Norco.

According to the sheriff's department, the two were found with "a significant amount of fentanyl pills." A search of their Ontario home found more of the pills, investigators said.

The department said Listoe was arrested in December in Eastvale for possession of fentanyl pills for sale, but was back on the streets selling.

Fentanyl is often pressed into counterfeit pills and sold on the black market as prescription medication, such as oxycodone. It is also cut into other illegal substances by drug dealers as a way to boost profit margins.

Fentanyl is cheap and it's deadly, according to law enforcement. Fentanyl "is about 100 times stronger than morphine and can cause death or serious bodily harm," the sheriff's department has warned.

"There is no safe way to use or sell fentanyl," Hestrin said during a news briefing last year. "Fentanyl is lethal to the human body. It's a menace; people are dying."

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