A Poway man who sold oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl to a friend, who later overdosed and died, has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, country prosecutors announced Monday.

As part of a plea deal, Alfred Lemus Jr. will be sentenced to 15 years in prison for the death of Richard Summerfruit, who was found in distress in Poway on Nov. 16, 2016. The 26-year-old was rushed to a hospital, where he died.

During a hearing Friday in San Diego Superior Court, Lemus also pleaded guilty to selling a controlled substance, possession for sale of a controlled substance, and possession of a firearm by a felon, the District Attorney’s Office said.

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid and can be fatal even in small doses. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.


Prosecutors said Summerfruit died after he smoked half of a blue pill with markings of a 30mg Percocet — although toxicology tests turned up fentanyl and fentanyl analogue 4-ANPP in his system.

Summerfruit and Lemus had been discussing the sale of “percs” in Facebook messages in the hours before and the day before Summerfruit died, according to a coulrt filing by Deputy District Attorney Jorge Del Portillo.

The investigation led to undercover officers buying drugs from Lemus, including blue pills that tests showed to be fentanyl, 4-ANPP and cocaine.

Lemus, now 31, was arrested in February 2017. In a secretly recorded jailhouse conversation, he told two jail operatives he’d been “pushing” pills out of Mexico “so they’re cut with fentanyl,” according to the filing.


In February, the Union-Tribune reported that fentanyl had caused 267 deaths in the county from 2000 to 2016. Last year, more than 40 people died in the county from a fentanyl overdose, including three friends found dead in a Vista apartment.

Local and federal authorities are cracking down on fentanyl distribution and going after dealers linked to overdoses, and the Sheriff’s Department has instituted a protocol in which all overdose deaths are investigated.

In federal court in March, a Chula Vista man pleaded guilty to his role in providing it to five people in Alpine who overdosed in December, thinking they were using cocaine. All five survived, but two had to be revived at the scene.

Lemus’ sentencing hearing is set for June 1.


teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com


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Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT