A Santa Clarita man has been charged with trafficking a drug three times more powerful than fentanyl and causing one fatal overdose, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Benjamin Anthony Collins, 21, was indicted Wednesday on one count of distributing protonitazene, resulting in what the Department of Justice says could be the first fatal crash in the nation involving the drug. There is a possibility that it will become a criminal case.
The indictment alleges that Collins knowingly and knowingly administered Protonitazene to the victim in the early morning hours of April 19, 2024. The Justice Department identified the victim only as a 22-year-old man from Stevenson Ranch.
Hours before his death, the victim called Collins asking for Percocet pills, and Collins sold him five oxycodone pills for $20 each, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The LA Times report also included a recount of text messages between the two before the drug deal shown in court documents. ‘ he texted the victim.
According to the report, Collins replied: He just passed away three days ago. Avoid fake pills. ”He also said: . I test everything myself [expletive] …It’s negative every time. ”
The Department of Justice announced that shortly after the transaction, a 22-year-old man took the drug in the front seat of his car and died soon after. According to authorities, the boy’s mother spotted the man parked outside her home and called 911.
“In recent years, protonitazene has been sold over the Internet and is believed to be several times more powerful than fentanyl, which itself is 50 times more potent than heroin,” the Justice Department said in a statement released Thursday. Ta.
Protonitazene and other “nitazenes” were first synthesized in the late 1950s as “novel opioid substitutes for morphine,” according to the World Health Organization, but were quickly abandoned and never approved for medical use.
In addition to giving his victims the drugs that ended their lives, Collins also planned to sell large quantities of the same drugs in the future, according to the Department of Justice.
Mr. Collins was arrested on Monday, Nov. 18, and pleaded not guilty on Wednesday. He is scheduled to go on trial in January, but is being held without bail.
If convicted, Collins faces a minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, with the statutory maximum sentence being life in prison.
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