Nearly a dozen teens in one Texas school district overdosed on fentanyl in just six months

Almost a dozen teens in one Texas school district have overdosed on fentanyl in the past six months – with three dying – as it is revealed that pharmacies in Mexico border towns are selling ‘discounted’ meds laced with illicit drugs.

Three high schools and two middle schools in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD have had at least one student suffer an overdose from the illegal drug in the past six months.

Of the ten students, aged between 13 and 17, who were hospitalized in the district, three died because of the pills.

Jose Alberto Perez, 14, died in January after suffering an overdose of fentanyl – and begged his mother not to take him to the hospital because ‘he was not a drug addict’.

Perez attended alternative Bea Salazer School in the Carrollton area, around 20 miles from central Dallas.

Three high schools and two middle schools in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD have had at least one student suffer an overdose from the illegal drug in the past six months

His mother, Lisa Astudillo had planned on getting him medical attention in the morning, after witnessing his lips turn ‘ash white’ and his pupils ‘popping out’, but he had died overnight.

Astudillo told NBC news: ‘It hurts you to see your son after he’s gone and ask yourself, Why didn’t I know about this sooner to help him?’

Another student at the school, Khloe Williams, 13, became addicted to fentanyl when she was just 12 years old after being introduced to it at school.

She had been transferred to the school because of behavioral issues and had been struggling with anxiety and depression.

Her mother Carmin, 39, said: ‘Someone at the school offered her a pill and said ‘if you’re depressed or if you’re going through something, this will pick you up’ and that’s how they are getting so many kids hooked.’

The spate of overdoses come as a report by the University of California found that many Mexican pharmacies along the US border are selling medications which are laced with illegal drugs, including fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamines.

Across 40 pharmacies in four cities in Mexico, two out of three had ‘at least one controlled substance for sale without a prescription, either in bottles or individual pills.’

Alongside students in the Carrollton ISD, Sienna Vaughn , 16, died of an overdose after taking a fentanyl-laced painkiller in Plano ISD – around 20 minutes from the rash of incidents

A report by the University of California found that many Mexican pharmacies along the US border are selling medications which are laced with illegal drugs

Authorities have arrested Luis Eduardo Navarrete, 21,  (left) and Magaly Mejia Cano, 29, (right) and Jason Xavier Villanueva, 22, in connection with the drugs and overdoses

An investigation by the LA Times revealed that 71 percent of the 17 pills tested positive for more powerful drugs.

The Mexican pharmacies also sell to locals, but the majority of their customers are Americans traveling to find more affordable medications, the UCLA researchers reported.

Alongside Perez and Williams, one of the victims includes a 14-year-old girl who overdosed twice and suffered temporary paralysis after buying drugs from a 16-year-old dealer at RL Turner High School.

Authorities have arrested Luis Eduardo Navarrete, 21, and Magaly Mejia Cano, 29, and Jason Xavier Villanueva, 22, in connection with the drugs and overdoses.

Each of the overdose incidents took place between September 2022 and February 2023, with another 15-year-old girl being found unresponsive at RL Turner High School on March 3.

Pupils at RL Turner High School, Hebron High School, Dewitt Perry Middle School, Dan F. Long Middle Schools and Bea Salazer High School have all been affected by the rash of overdoses.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton announced that the minors had been hospitalized after taking Percocet and OxyContin pills laced with lethal doses of fentanyl.

Villanueva is accused of supplying pills through a juvenile dealer to Cano and Navarrete and has been charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute

Jason Xavier Villanueva, 22, is accused of supplying pills through a juvenile dealer to Cano and Navarrete and has been charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute

Following Navarrete and Cano’s arrests, Villanueva posted on social media, ‘Only thing that’s gonna stop us is feds,’ according to police

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the synthetic opioid, often produced illegally, is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.

Just two milligrams of fentanyl, which is equal to 10-15 grains of table salt, is considered a lethal dose.

A report from the CDCP added that median monthly overdose deaths involving fentanyl for people ages 10 to 19 increased 182 percent from July to December 2019 compared to the same period in 2021.

More than 2,200 teens fatally overdosed in the two-and-a-half-year period from July 2019 to December 2021, with fentanyl involved in 84 percent of the deaths.

A separate CDC report found that 41 percent of teens who died of an overdose had evidence of mental health conditions or treatment.

All of the schools now have Narcan on hand because the incidents have become so common – a drug which helps to reverse the effects of the illicit drug.

Simonton said: ‘To deal fentanyl is to knowingly imperil lives. To deal fentanyl to minors — naive middle and high school students — is to shatter futures. These defendants’ alleged actions are simply despicable.

The US Attorney’s office for Texas said that Villanueva is considered to be the ‘main source’ of the fentanyl that killed the Carrollton teens

Jose Alberto Perez’s mother, Lisa Astudillo had planned on getting him medical attention in the morning, after witnessing his lips turn ‘ash white’ and his pupils ‘popping out’

‘We can never replace the three teenagers whose lives were lost, nor can we heal the psychological scars of those who survived their overdoses. But we can take action to ensure these defendants are never allowed to hand a pill to a child again.’

She added that the defendants produced pills that looked exactly like prescription drugs, but then contained fentanyl – which is 150 times more potent than Oxycontin.

Eduardo A. Chavez, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Dallas Field Division, said of the arrests: ‘Selling drugs alone is a serious transgression, but to sell deadly fentanyl to a juvenile is one of the most shocking and callous ways to hurt a community.

‘DEA Dallas and our partners from the Carrollton Police Department will work to identify and hold accountable every individual who thinks they can profit by exposing our neighborhoods, and our children, to this deadly substance.’

He added that 107,622 Americans died from taking drugs last year, with fentanyl and other synthetic opioids accounting for nearly 70 percent of the deaths.

According to the complaint, Navarrete and Cano allegedly dealt fake Percocet and Oxycontin pills laced with fentanyl, commonly known as ‘M30s,’ to multiple juvenile drug dealers.

Federal prosecutors made a fourth arrest in March, accusing Donovan Andrews, 20, of using social media apps to reach out to potential buyers and cash apps to take payment

Pupils at RL Turner High School, Hebron High School, Dewitt Perry Middle School, Dan F. Long Middle Schools (pictured)  and Bea Salazer High School have all been affected by the rash of overdoses

107,622 Americans died from taking drugs last year, with fentanyl and other synthetic opioids accounting for nearly 70 percent of the deaths.

They were mostly students at RL Turner High School, who in turn sold the drugs to their fellow students at R.L. Turner High School and to younger students at Dewitt Perry and Dan F. Long Middle Schools.

In a statement Bea Selzer High School said that they were ‘deeply concerned’ about the safety of their students.

They added: ‘We have taken several actions to educate parents on the dangers of fentanyl.

‘In November, CFB organized and held two community parent drug awareness programs (in both English and Spanish) to inform parents about the dangers of drug use among teens.

‘Our Crisis Team and two Licensed Chemical Dependency counselors have developed student drug awareness presentations and are presenting these talks at the secondary campuses. CFB has started random canine searches at our campuses.’

Villanueva is accused of supplying pills through a juvenile dealer to Cano and Navarrete and has been charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute.

Following Navarrete and Cano’s arrests, Villanueva posted on social media, ‘Only thing that’s gonna stop us is feds,’ according to police.

Naloxone – commonly sold as Narcan – is a lifesaving drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose as it is happening. Often, however, drug users are taking illicit substance alone, meaning there is no one onsite to administer the drug

Sienna Vaughn took a pill on February 19 that she believed was Percocet, a prescription painkiller, but died from fentanyl poisoning

The US Attorney’s office for Texas said that Villanueva is considered to be the ‘main source’ of the fentanyl that killed the Carrollton teens.

After Navarrete and Cano were arrested, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted about the case, saying state legislators want to make fentanyl poisoning a murder charge.

He said: ‘The fentanyl crisis plaguing our country has tragic consequences. Too many Texas families have lost children to deadly fentanyl. Their loss will not be in vain.’

The Texas Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would allow prosecutors to charge fentanyl distributors with murder.

In his State of the Union address last month, President Joe Biden vowed to ‘launch a national campaign to educate young people on the dangers of fentanyl, and how naloxone saves lives,’ through the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Ad Council.

Authorities witnessed Navarrete hand pills to a 16-year-old dealer on January 12, with officers then following the juvenile into the bathroom at RL Turner High School where he ingested the drugs.

If convicted, all three of the accused could face up to 20 years in federal prison for supplying the deadly substances.

This photo provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Phoenix Division shows some of the 30,000 fentanyl pills the agency seized in one of its bigger busts in August 2017 

On February 27, San Diego Border Patrol seized 232 pounds of fentanyl during a traffic stop in San Clemente, California, located roughly 75 miles from the US-Mexico border. It was enough fentanyl to kill 50million Americans

Federal prosecutors made a fourth arrest in March, accusing Donovan Andrews, 20, of using social media apps to reach out to potential buyers and cash apps to take payment.

In arrest documents, they detailed how a 14-year-old girl who survived an overdose told investigators he sold her the drugs and left them in her mailbox.

He is accused of supplying the drugs which caused two overdoses at Hebron High school in Carrollton and advised his drugs on social media with victims paying him on CashApp.

Alongside students in the Carrollton ISD, a 16-year-old girl died of an overdose after taking a fentanyl-laced painkiller in Plano ISD – around 20 minutes from the rash of incidents.

Sienna Vaughn took a pill on February 19 that she believed was Percocet, a prescription painkiller, but died from fentanyl poisoning.

Her mother, Stephanie Vaughn, said that her daughter and her friend -who survived the incident – did not know that they had the illegal drug.

State Rep. Terry Wilson proposed a bill this month that calls for school districts to give at least 10 hours of instruction related to ‘fentanyl prevention and drug poisoning awareness’ for students in grades six through 12.

The bill is called ‘Tucker’s Law’ for Tucker Roe, a 19-year-old from Leander, who died after he bought and took what he thought was a Percocet in 2021.