Fentanyl Homicide Arrests Continue In Riverside County

TEMECULA, CA — Another Riverside County death caused by fentanyl is being investigated as a homicide. A San Jacinto man suspected of supplying a fatal dose of fentanyl to a 23-year-old acquaintance was arrested Friday on suspicion of murder.

Samuel Leo Mussaw, also 23, was booked into the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta on both the murder allegation and on suspicion of possession of narcotics for sale. He's being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

According to Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Rick Espinoza, deputies and paramedics were called to the 900 block of Cypress Drive, near Malaga Drive, about noon Thursday to investigate a possible drug overdose.

Espinoza said Adam Young of San Jacinto was found unconscious and unresponsive in the house, and first responders tried and failed to revive him.

Further investigation revealed that Young had likely consumed pills containing fentanyl, and detectives were able to track down the suspected source — Mussaw, according to the sergeant.

He said a search warrant was served at the suspected dealer's residence in the 100 block of North Dillon Road, where three firearms, a stash of cash "and approximately 2,000 M-30 pills of fentanyl" were seized.

Mussaw was taken into custody without a struggle in the predawn hours.

He is the fourth person to be arrested in two weeks for alleged fentanyl sales that led to a death.

The other three individuals — Raymond Gene Tyrrell of French Valley, Jeremiah David Carlton of Canyon Lake and Joseph Michael Costanza of Eastvale — have already been charged with second-degree murder in their respective cases and made court appearances.

Costanza's case was the county's first-ever fentanyl-induced murder charge.

Last week, Sheriff Chad Bianco and District Attorney Mike Hestrin announced a strategy to aggressively investigate and potentially prosecute all deaths stemming from fentanyl toxicity as homicides.

According to Hestrin, although overdose murder cases can be difficult to prosecute under current state law, the D.A.'s Office will not hesitate to file charges whenever the evidence of culpability is clear.

Bianco cited statistics indicating fentanyl-induced fatalities shot up 300 percent countywide between 2018 and 2020.

Just 2 milligrams of the synthetic opioid manufactured in China and smuggled across the Mexican border can kill a human, according to the sheriff.

"All drugs and counterfeit pills are themselves deadly because they are often mixed with fentanyl or a derivative of fentanyl," Espinoza said. "These substances alone or mixed together can kill in very small doses."