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Carrollton fentanyl house latest: Parent meeting, court appearance and Abbott response

Law enforcement traced medical emergencies with evidence of fentanyl overdoses among juveniles to a house in Carrollton.

A criminal complaint unsealed Monday in federal court revealed two people were accused of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl after three Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD students died and six others were hospitalized in a string of overdoses. The youngest person to overdose was 13, according to court records.

In January, federal drug agents and Carrollton police began looking into medical emergencies with evidence of fentanyl overdoses. They traced each one to a Carrollton house on Highland Drive just blocks from R.L. Turner High School, court records show. There, federal authorities say, juvenile dealers as young as 14 picked up drugs to sell to classmates.

The fatalities and overdoses involve teens enrolled in R.L. Turner, DeWitt Perry Middle School and Dan F. Long Middle School. The most recent death linked to the related fentanyl overdoses was Wednesday, court records show.

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Fentanyl, a highly potent and addictive synthetic opiate, is often mixed with acetaminophen and other substances then pressed into pills. When prescribed by doctors and taken responsibly, fentanyl can be helpful, medical professionals say. But even a small amount — the size of the tip of a sharpened pencil — can be lethal.

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Thursday meeting for Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD parents

In a written statement, school officials said they were “deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of our students due to the fentanyl epidemic that continues to be a concern throughout the nation.” The statement continued, “Our hearts are very heavy at the loss of young lives.”

School district spokeswoman Dawn Parnell said the district sent an email to all parents on Oct. 31 “alerting them to the threat of fentanyl” — a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.

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A general fentanyl warning email sent to parents Monday did not mention the federal court action or that students in the district had overdosed on the drug.

In the email and in a Facebook post, the district invited parents to attend a Student Health Advisory Council meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday. The meeting will include a presentation about fentanyl, the district said.

‘I didn’t get help’

The mother of a Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD middle schooler said she pleaded with school officials for help before her son died from a suspected fentanyl poisoning last month. Lilia Astudillo, 39, said she asked school staff at Dan F. Long Middle School to help get 14-year-old José Alberto Pérez back on track after a series of misbehaviors. She feared he was using drugs.

Astudillo worried about what he did when he snuck out of the house and that he would run away permanently. But school administrators said their hands were tied, Astudillo said. Her dread materialized when José, who once played on the school football team, died in late January. Test results to determine a cause of death are pending, according to Denton County medical examiner.

“Had the district helped me when I reached out, my son wouldn’t be dead today,” Astudillo, who believes her son died from fentanyl, said in Spanish.

“I didn’t get help … they didn’t want to help me,” she said.

The district did not respond to a request for comment about Astudillo’s criticisms of how the administrators handled her cry for help.

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Court appearance Friday

Luis Eduardo Navarrete and Magaly Mejia Cano made their initial appearance Monday afternoon in federal court in Dallas. The complaint against Navarrete, 21, and Mejia Cano, 29, described the drugs they distributed as “fake Percocet and OxyContin” tablets laced with fentanyl.

Mejia Cano will appear in court again Friday for a detention and preliminary hearing. Navarete, 21, waived his right to a hearing.

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According to Dallas County criminal court records, Navarrete pleaded guilty in December to a April 2020 domestic violence assault in Carrollton, a Class A misdemeanor.

A records search showed no criminal history on Mejia Cano.

The exterior of 1823 Highland Drive photographed on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, in Carrollton....
The exterior of 1823 Highland Drive photographed on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, in Carrollton. Federal authorities say juveniles picked up fentanyl to sell to classmates at the house. Luis Eduardo Navarrete and Magaly Mejia Cano made their initial appearance Monday afternoon in federal court in Dallas. The complaint against Navarrete, 21, and Mejia Cano, 29, described the drugs they distributed as “fake Percocet and OxyContin” tablets laced with fentanyl.(Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)

Surveillance at the house, according to the criminal complaint, revealed Navarrete and Mejia Cano distributed drugs to several people, many of them Turner students. The complaint also states that eight of these juveniles — ages 14 to 16 — then sold them to other students.

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Navarrete frequently communicated with student dealers, including the 16-year-old, through Instagram, the complaint says.

What happened to the juveniles accused of selling fentanyl?

It’s unclear whether the juveniles accused of selling fentanyl have been detained.

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Asked Monday whether the alleged juvenile dealers are still on campus or whether any juveniles were apprehended, Carrollton Police Department spokeswoman Isamar Leguizamo said, “This remains an active investigation.”

Legislative action possible

In a tweet, Gov. Greg Abbott responded to the arrests, saying, “Too many Texas families have lost children to deadly fentanyl. Their loss will not be in vain.”

Abbott said in the tweet state legislators want to make fentanyl poisoning a murder charge.

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According to a recent analysis by Families Against Fentanyl, fentanyl deaths among children 14 and under are increasing more quickly than any other age group in the country. Fentanyl was involved in more than 77% of adolescent drug overdose deaths in 2021, according to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Staff Writers Maggie Prosser, Valeria Olivares and Sharon Grigsby contributed to this report.