Fentanyl Overdoses Of Santa Monica Teens Lead To Federal Charges

SANTA MONICA, CA — The US Attorney and the Drug Enforcement Agency filed federal charges Tuesday against a man accused of selling pills laced with fentanyl to three teenage girls in Santa Monica, leading two of them to have life-threatening overdoses.

The Santa Monica incident was one of 12 cases that officials announced charges for against 13 defendants throughout California. Officials said they wanted to highlight these cases to bring more awareness to the ongoing fentanyl crisis that has taken the lives of many students across the country.

"We are fully committed to combating the fentanyl crisis, which is wreaking so much destruction across this nation," said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. "The deadly risks of fentanyl are well known. The cases announced today charge drug dealers who have caused the death or injury of others, and thereby prioritized greed over human life."

After the incident on May 24, 2022, Santa Monica Police Department officers began a lengthy investigation that led to the arrest of 22-year-old Adreian Benevides-Schorgi on April 27, 2023. Benevides-Schorgi was held without bond the following day and a trial for the case is scheduled for June 20.

According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the girls snorted the crushed-up pills they purchased from an online dealer thinking they were ecstasy, which landed two 15-year-old girls in the hospital recovering from life-threatening overdoses.

The Santa Monica-Malibu School District students all recovered from the overdoses that officials said turned out to be laced with fentanyl and at least one other unidentified psychoactive substance.

Earlier this year on March 29, the Food and Drug Administration approved mass rollouts of Narcan, a nasal spray that rapidly reverses the effects of opioid overdose, for use without a prescription. Following the announcement, many schools in Los Angeles were provided Narcan and began allowing students to carry it while at school.