IE Man Admits To Giving A 'Deadly Dose Of Fentanyl' To Brittany Locke

JURUPA VALLEY, CA —A man accused of supplying a fatal dose of fentanyl to a 32-year-old Moreno Valley woman pleaded guilty Friday to voluntary manslaughter and was immediately sentenced to 11 years in state prison.

Brandon Michael Shino, 31, of Jurupa Valley, admitted the felony count under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. In exchange for his admission, prosecutors dropped a murder charge against him.

The plea deal was announced just as Shino's case was called for a preliminary hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Superior Court Judge Jason Armand certified the terms of the bargain and imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense.

The defendant provided an unspecified quantity of fentanyl to Brittany Locke in January 2022, precipitating her death.

It was unclear how the woman and Shino were acquainted.

According to sheriff's Sgt. Ryan Marcuse, patrol deputies were called to the victim's residence in the 23000 block of Sunnymead Boulevard, near Frederick Street, on the afternoon of Jan. 4 and found her dead.

An autopsy revealed she was "the victim of fentanyl poisoning," Marcuse said.

Detectives developed leads that ultimately pointed to Shino as the supplier of the pills she consumed, according to the sergeant.

The defendant was arrested without incident on Aug. 17, 2022, on Hastings Boulevard in Riverside. He has been held without bail since that time.

He had no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County.

Since February 2021, over two dozen people countywide have been charged with murder in connection with fentanyl poisonings.

According to public safety officials, there were 503 confirmed fentanyl-related fatalities countywide last year, compared to just under 400 in 2021, a 200-fold increase from 2016, when there were only two.

Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, 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 80-100 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 two milligrams can be fatal.