A man partly responsible for supplying a deadly dose of fentanyl to a 35-year-old Riverside resident was bound for state prison Tuesday to serve six years, four months behind bars.
Miguel Garcia, 39, of Riverside pleaded guilty last month to involuntary manslaughter, possession of drugs for sale and transportation of controlled substances for sale under a pretrial agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. A murder charge was dismissed in exchange for Garcia’s admissions.
During a hearing Monday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Superior Court Judge Joshlyn Pulliam certified the terms of the plea bargain and imposed the stipulated sentence.
On Feb. 17, co-defendant David Ray Mullins, 48, of Jurupa Valley received a six-year sentence after admitting the same charges. The remaining defendant, 32-year-old Jaclyn Christine Sherman of Riverside, pleaded guilty in February to one count each of voluntary manslaughter and transportation of controlled substances for sale. She’s being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail and is slated for sentencing on April 14.
Sherman and Garcia delivered the fentanyl that killed Christopher Nicholas Lucia in 2023. Mullins was the original source of the synthetic opioid, prosecutors said.
According to an arrest declaration affidavit filed by Detective Scott Levesque of the Riverside Police Department, Garcia and Sherman were partners in narcotics sales to a stream of purchasers throughout the Riverside metropolitan area.
In the predawn hours of Nov. 8, 2023, they met Lucia after he contacted Sherman via text to request two grams of fentanyl, the affidavit said. While sitting in the back of Garcia’s Honda Element, the victim consumed the drug as his girlfriend waited for him in his car, parked nearby on Stony Brooke Circle.
Lucia returned to his vehicle moments later and got behind the wheel, Levesque said.
“Since he was already becoming irritable and sick, it’s possible he used a larger dose (of fentanyl) than normal, which could cause a higher-than-normal amount of the drug to enter the bloodstream,” the detective said.
Lucia drove a short distance before falling unconscious, prompting his girlfriend, whose identity wasn’t disclosed, to call 911. Lucia lingered in a coma for five days, after which he succumbed to the toxic substance.
Garcia and Sherman were soon identified as the sellers, and a search warrant was obtained and served at their shared residence in the 4900 block of Gardena Drive.
“Detectives located and seized more than three-quarter pounds of powdered fentanyl, as well as evidence these suspects continued selling fentanyl after Christopher’s death,” Riverside police spokesman Officer Ryan Railsback said at the time.
The defendants’ supplier was identified as Mullins, and a search warrant was executed at his property at 7226 Front Ave., where officers seized “scales, baggies, white residue and other items consistent with sales of fentanyl,” according to the affidavit.
He was later convicted in a separate drug trafficking case and sent to state prison for less than a year.
“Sherman, Garcia and Mullins are responsible for the fentanyl that killed Lucia,” Levesque wrote.
Court records show Sherman has documented prior convictions for petty theft and driving on a suspended license. Mullins had priors that were not listed in court documents. Garcia had no priors in Riverside County.
Since February 2021, prosecutors have charged over three dozen people in connection with fentanyl poisonings. Two prosecutions have resulted in murder convictions.
Preliminary health statistics indicated there were 229 suspected fentanyl-related fatalities countywide in 2025, compared to 351 confirmed poisonings in 2024, a roughly 40% decline.
Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, principally in China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says the opioid is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by cartels.
It’s 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine and can be mixed into any number of street narcotics and prescription drugs, without a recipient knowing what he or she is consuming. Ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.