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Michael Garcia. | Photo courtesy of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department
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A 22-year-old man accused of giving a fatal dose of fentanyl to his 17-year-old girlfriend in an unincorporated area of Riverside County near Desert Hot Springs had a warrant out for his arrest Thursday.
Michael Garcia of Desert Hot Springs was charged with one felony count each of willful child cruelty and giving controlled substances to a minor, according to court records.
Deputies from the Palm Desert sheriff’s station responded around 9 a.m. Aug. 21, 2022, to a report of an unresponsive teen girl in the 15000 block of Via Quedo, according to Sgt. Sean Liebrand of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Upon arrival, she was found unresponsive in a bedroom.
“Lifesaving measures were unsuccessful, and the juvenile was ultimately pronounced deceased,” Liebrand said in a statement. “The investigation determined the female juvenile had overdosed on fentanyl.”
The department’s Overdose Investigations and Narcotics Unit assumed the investigation and identified Garcia as the suspect who gave her the fentanyl, according to Liebrand. Garcia remains outstanding.
According to a declaration in support of his arrest filed by master investigator James Peters, he responded to the girl’s residence Aug. 21 and spoke to her boyfriend, Garcia, who was present when deputies arrived.
“Under Miranda, Michael told me he drove the night before he purchased M-30 pills, which he stated he knew contained Fentanyl, and provided them to (the girl), who smoked them,” Peters said in the declaration. “Michael said he awoke the next morning to find (her) overdosing.”
Peters claimed that Garcia also told him that, knowing the girl was only 17 years old, he had a sexual relationship with her for several months and was buying her fentanyl even though he knew she had been released from a residential rehab for fentanyl addiction a few weeks before her fatal overdose.
More suspects and arrests are expected in the case, according to Liebrand.
Anyone with information on Garcia’s whereabouts was asked to call the department’s dispatch at 951-776-1099 and anyone with additional information on the case was asked to call Peters at 951-955-1700.
