Fentanyl-laced pills, overdoses surge in Fort Worth area. It’s a fatal trend for many.
Fort Worth police have issued a warning about an increase in fentanyl overdose cases in the city and surrounding cities, leading to an “alarming number” of deaths.
Authorities also noted a substantial increase in distribution and possession of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate.
The warning is the latest in a North Texas pill crisis that has been going on for years and claimed the life of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019 in Southlake.
A former Angels employee was indicted on federal drug charges related to Skaggs’ fentanyl overdose death, according to federal officials
Since that time, fentanyl deaths also have been reported in Johnson and Parker counties.
In the Fort Worth warning, police said the most common trend included the production and distribution of small, round, blue “oxycodone clone” pills stamped with M30 that contain fentanyl.
“Some versions of these cloned pills may have rough edges, or a distorted stamp, but the overwhelming majority of the cloned pills which have been seized, look as if they were pharmaceutically manufactured,” according to the Fort Worth police warning which the department posted on social media. “The legitimate 30 MG oxycodone pills are not being prescribed by doctors in large quantities, or for long durations as they had in the past.”
Deaths linked in part to fentanyl have shown a surge in the last year, according to a recent KTVT-TV report. In 2019, there were five related deaths in Denton County, nine in Tarrant and 10 in Collin. By 2020, Collin County had 33, Denton County 21 and Tarrant County 95.
Fort Worth police said that in many overdose cases that have been recently investigated, users have told investigators that they did not know they were taking pills with fentanyl.
Street names for the tainted pills include: hillbilly heroin, OC, 512s, kicker, green ones, blue ones, 30s, blue rounds, M30s, Percs and Oxy.
MedStar statistics show that the ambulance service had 152 unintentional overdose calls between March 2019 and February 2020, where paramedics administered Narcan, a medication that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
For the most recent 12 months starting in March 2020, that number climbed to 236, according to MedStar, a North Texas ambulance service.
Just days ago, Venus police and investigators with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation after two teens died of apparent overdoses linked to counterfeit prescription pills.
The two high school students died in separate incidents — one on March 15, the second March 17.
Investigators said one student attended Venus High School, and the other went to Joshua High School. Another student involved in one of the incidents was hospitalized, according to WFAA-TV.
In January, a 19-year-old man wanted in connection with a recent fentanyl-related death in Weatherford turned himself in to authorities, Weatherford police said.
Colby Reeder-Knotts, of Weatherford, has been charged with manufacturing or delivering a controlled substance resulting in death or serious bodily injury, according to Parker County court documents.
Back in November 2020, Alyssa Baltzell, a 19-year-old from Springtown, and Ethan Hathaway, a 19-year-old from Weatherford, died in Weatherford with fentanyl-related causes.
Baltzell died of toxic effects of fentanyl, according to the medical examiner. Hathaway, officials reported, died of “acute fentanyl intoxication” with aspiration, according to officials with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Reeder-Knotts is accused in Hathaway’s death.
A federal grand jury in October indicted Eric Prescott Kay, 45, on a charge of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death and serious bodily injury related to Skagg’s death.
Kay was the former communications director of the Los Angeles Angels.
A criminal complaint written by DEA agent Geoffrey Lindeberg provided this account of the incident involving Skaggs:
Inside of Skaggs’ hotel room on June 30, 2019, investigators found a number of pills, including a single blue pill with the markings M/30. The pill, which resembled a 30-milligram oxycodone tablet, was tested and it had been laced with fentanyl.
Kay allegedly denied knowing whether Skaggs was a drug user. He also claimed the last time he saw Skaggs was at hotel check-in on June 30, but investigators searched Skaggs’ phone, which revealed text messages on June 30 suggesting that Kay stop by his room with pills later that evening.
Hotel key card records indicated Kay’s room was opened at 11:29 p.m., and Skaggs’ was opened nine minutes later.
Kay allegedly admitted to a colleague that he had visited Skaggs’ room the night he died.
Kay is accused of regularly dealing the M/30 pills dubbed “blue boys” to Skaggs and to others, passing out the pills at the stadium where they worked.
Kay’s trial is pending in a federal court in Fort Worth.
This report contains information from Fort Worth Star-Telegram archives.
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 12:51 PM.
