Woman accused of selling fatal fentanyl dose enters plea. Fresno DA charged her with murder
Cassidy Marie Gonzalez of Fresno pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder and drug charges for selling a lethal dose of fentanyl to someone who died from an overdose.
Gonzalez, 22, is accused of supplying Jade Alexandra Dreith, 41, with a counterfeit pill known as a “blue M30.”
Prosecutors allege the pill was laced with fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid that is blamed for causing a rising number of overdose deaths nationwide.
Jade Dreith’s sister, Sage Dreith other family members joined Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp on Oct. 18 to announce a new strategy to curb fentanyl use by charging drug dealers with murder in cases of overdose deaths.
Smittcamp is following in the footsteps of other counties, including Riverside, Placer and San Bernardino, that have filed murder charges against drug dealers in fentanyl-related death cases.
The petite Gonzalez, who does not have any previous criminal convictions, appeared in Judge Samuel Dalesandro’s courtroom Tuesday to enter her not guilty plea as did her co-defendant Alejandro Valverde-Nuno, 25. He is charged with being an accomplice, possession of a controlled substance and sale or transport of a controlled substance.
If convicted, Gonzalez faces up to 25-years-to-life in state prison and Valverde-Nuno faces up to eight years behind bars
When police serviced a search warrant at Gonzalez’s southeast Fresno apartment they found drug paraphernalia, eight cell phones, an electronic tablet and an assault rifle.
Gonzalez is defended by Curtis Sok and Valverde-Nuno is represented by Naser Nekumanish. Senior Deputy District Attorney Kendall T. Reynolds is prosecuting the case.
Both defendants are due back in court on November 29 for a pre-preliminary hearing and Dec. 13 for a preliminary hearing.
