A felon accused of selling a deadly dose of fentanyl to a 27-year-old Moreno Valley man must stand trial on a murder charge, a judge ruled Monday.
Savanna Michelle Carlos, 23, of Moreno Valley, is accused of causing the death of Jesse Jimenez in 2023.
Following a preliminary hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice Monday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge William Lebov found there was sufficient evidence to bound Carlos over for trial on the murder count.
The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for Sept. 30 at the downtown courthouse.
Carlos is being held in lieu of $1 million at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Sean Liebrand, on Feb. 2, 2023, patrol deputies were sent to a residence in the 21600 block of Winding Road, near Yolo Street, to investigate reports of a man down.
Liebrand said the deputies discovered Jimenez unconscious and unresponsive, at which point they attempted life-saving measures until paramedics arrived and continued to try to resuscitate him, but couldn’t. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The coroner’s bureau determined Jimenez died as a result of fentanyl poisoning,” the sergeant said. “Investigators worked to identify the suspect responsible for selling the fentanyl that killed him. As a result of their efforts, the suspect was identified as Carlos.”
He said detectives formally took the defendant into custody after she completed serving a term of incarceration at the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center in Devore for unspecified offenses in San Bernardino County.
The circumstances regarding how Carlos met Jimenez and allegedly supplied him with the controlled substances were not disclosed.
Court records show she has a prior conviction in Riverside County for forgery
Since February 2021, prosecutors have charged over 30 people in connection with fentanyl poisonings.
Public health statistics indicated there were 328 known fentanyl-related fatalities countywide in 2024, compared to 571 in 2023, a 42% decline
Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, principally in China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says the synthetic opioid is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by cartels.
Fentanyl is 80-100 times more potent than morphine and can be mixed into any number of street narcotics and prescription drugs, without a user knowing what he or she is consuming. Ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.