SACRAMENTO —
On the same day a drug took the life of Jerome Butler, DEA agents went to his home.
“They ransacked the house, flipped it upside everything was everywhere, everything is trashed,” said Larresha Henderson, Butler’s cousin.
Agents served a federal search warrant on the 6600 block of 47th Street Wednesday night. Henderson said they didn’t find anything, and the DEA reported no arrests were made.
But for the DEA, who is working with multiple law enforcement agencies, the mission is to pinpoint the suppliers of the fentanyl pills being sold on the street, disguised as Norco. They do know the main source of the pills, but they want to know who is selling them in Sacramento County.
John Martin, special agent in charge of the DEA San Francisco field division said, “Fentanyl is coming from China. Mexican drug trafficking cartels are obtaining fentanyl, it’s being smuggled through the normal smuggling routes of the southwest border.”
The DEA’s involvement comes after 29 overdoses and seven deaths in Sacramento County. Martin said buying this off the streets is like playing Russian roulette, you don’t know what you’re getting.
Henderson said that’s exactly what happened to her cousin Jerome.
“They knew they were taking the Norco. They didn’t know the Norco was laced with fentanyl, nobody knew they were fake pills,” she said.
