Los Gatos High School fentanyl overdoses lead to arrest of suspected San Jose drug dealer
LOS GATOS -- A suspected drug dealer from San Jose is under arrest after a group of Los Gatos High School students overdosed on fentanyl-laced pills they allegedly bought from him, authorities announced Thursday.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office identified the suspect as 23-year-old Simon Armendariz. In a press release, the DA's office said Armendariz's student customers were so aware of the deadly risk of the toxic pill that they often carried Narcan in case they overdosed.
Armendariz, who went by the nicknames "Risky" and "Madman," sold the drugs to 15-year-olds in various locations throughout downtown Los Gatos, including the parking lot of Los Gatos High School or a nearby church, according to the DA's office.
The investigation began when Santa Clara police responded to a report that a 15-year-old girl had overdosed in the bathroom during a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. The pill she overdosed on - a counterfeit Percocet pill laced with fentanyl - was traced back to Armendariz, the DA's office said.
Investigators traced the drugs to several other students, one of whom would get the $10 pills delivered from the dealer at school before first period or at a nearby church parking lot. Armendariz allegedly urged his teenaged buyers to share his contact information to build up his customer list.
"This is not a war on drugs, this is a struggle to save lives," District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a prepared statement. "There are no good excuses with fentanyl. It kills and everybody knows it: the dealers, the manufacturers. We will find them, arrest them, and hold them accountable for selling poison for profit."
Armendariz was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon at 1:30 p.m., in the Hall of Justice, in San Jose.