Men arrested after fentanyl-laced drug sale in Chapel Hill, investigators say
Two men face drug-trafficking charges after investigators reported seeing them sell fentanyl-laced drugs Monday in a Chapel Hill parking lot.
One man’s young children were present during the transaction, which happened off Fordham Boulevard near the Sage Road intersection, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday in a news release.
A search of the men’s cars found a trafficking-level quantity of narcotics, specifically fentanyl-laced cocaine, investigators said. Chapel Hill Police Department officers and K-9 units, along with federal officers, helped with the investigation and arrests.
Sergio Aguiar, 36, of Winston-Salem was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver fentanyl; sale and delivery of fentanyl; and three counts of trafficking in opium or heroin, according to the release.
Investigators also charged Octavio Lopez, 31, of Raleigh with maintaining a vehicle or dwelling place for the sale of controlled substances; two counts of trafficking in opium or heroin; and two counts of misdemeanor child abuse, the release said.
Lopez’s children were not physically harmed, investigators said. Their mother picked them up, and Child Protective Services was notified, they said.
Aguiar and Lopez were taken to the Orange County Detention Center, where Aguiar is being held on $200,000 secured bail and Lopez is being held on $250,000 secured bail. Their first court hearing was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
Fentanyl lethality
Fentanyl was combined with heroin when it first appeared in North Carolina, but the Sheriff’s Office is seeing more fentanyl mixed in with other narcotics, such as methamphetamine and cocaine, Sheriff Charles Blackwood said in the release.
N.C. Department of Health and Human Services data released in August showed the number of suspected overdose deaths involving fentanyl have grown steadily and nearly doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. There were 3,355 fentanyl-positive deaths in 2022, compared with 442 fentanyl-positive deaths in 2016, the data showed.
This year, the number of fentanyl-positive overdose deaths had reached 1,704 as of June 30, compared to 1,675 deaths by June 2022. Roughly 41% of the fentanyl-positive deaths in the first six months of 2023 also involved cocaine, data showed.
Another 31% of this year’s fentanyl-positive deaths involved methamphetamines, followed by prescription drugs (22%) and alcohol (21%), it showed. Heroin and other opioids were involved in only 9% of the fentanyl-positive overdose cases, although the number of opioid overdose visits to hospital emergency rooms have continued to grow.
Between January and August 2023, NCDHHS data showed 6,506 patients visited hospital emergency rooms for opioid overdoses, compared to 6,194 visits between January and August 2022.
Tracking drug overdose deaths in NC
North Carolina has seen more people die from drug overdoses in the last several years.
NCDHHS data showed 334 suspected overdose deaths in August, bringing the total so far this year to 2,828 deaths. That is consistent with the 2,816 suspected deaths reported in North Carolina as of August 2022, data showed.
By the end of 2022, there were 4,243 suspected overdose deaths, an increase of 1,689 deaths per year since 2018, when there were 2,554 suspected overdose deaths, the state reported.
However, those numbers only represent cases handled by the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, meaning the actual number of deaths could be much higher, officials have said. The Medical Examiner’s Office only started tracking overdose deaths in March 2017.
“It’s difficult to help people understand just how lethal this chemical can be,” Blackwood said. “Those who use narcotics are at risk of accidental overdose if the amount of fentanyl in their drug of choice is more than they are accustomed to. Even incidental contact with trace amounts of the drug can cause serious problems for a person with no tolerance to such chemical agents.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2023 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Men arrested after fentanyl-laced drug sale in Chapel Hill, investigators say."
