San Francisco police have arrested four people and seized more than 20,000 counterfeit pills in an investigation launched after the April overdose death of a 16-year-old boy whose autopsy revealed the presence of cychlorphine, a synthetic opioid believed to be far more potent than fentanyl.
At a Monday press conference also featuring Mayor Daniel Lurie and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, Police Chief Derrick Lew said that investigators spent months tracing the source of counterfeit pills, conducting undercover drug purchases and eventually executing search warrants at three San Francisco residences. The arrests took place Sept. 8 and 9.
The investigation has so far produced narcotics and firearms charges against all four suspects. Still, Jenkins said additional charges could follow if investigators can establish that one of the suspects supplied the drug that killed the teenager.
“If there is an ability to link a sale to this child’s death, I do intend to file those charges so long as we can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt,” Jenkins said.
The arrests and seizure were announced as city officials sought to draw attention to the emergence of cychlorphine. This little-known synthetic opioid, authorities say, is now circulating in San Francisco’s illicit drug supply. The San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times both reported Monday on the case, with Times reporter Heather Knight detailing the death of the teenager, Dante Paul Lacourte, and his mother’s efforts to understand what killed her son.
According to police, the investigation began after the teenager’s death and ultimately led officers to a network allegedly involved in selling counterfeit pills. Investigators seized more than 20,000 pills along with fentanyl and three firearms. Police are working with the federal Food and Drug Administration to determine whether the seized pills also contain cychlorphine.
“The pills that are sold on our streets are likely not manufactured by legitimate pharmaceutical companies under strict regulations,” Lew said. “Instead, they are cobbled together with poisonous chemicals by drug dealers. They press and color them to look legitimate. But they are deadly.”
Four suspects face felony charges
Police identified the four suspects as Nicholas Wallace, 46; Sharonee Hyson, 44; Leander Pitts, 46; and Starr Lamare, 39. All were booked into San Francisco County Jail on drug and firearms charges, according to police.
Jenkins provided the following breakdown of the charges:
- Leander Pitts faces seven counts, including transportation and sale of controlled substances including methamphetamine and Xanax.
- Starr Lamare faces 10 counts, including transportation and sale of methamphetamine and heroin, possession of an assault weapon, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and other firearms charges.
- Nicholas Wallace faces six counts, including selling a substance instead of a controlled substance, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and other drug and firearm charges.
- Sharonee Hyson faces three counts, including being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of cocaine base for sale.
The charges filed so far do not establish that any of the four supplied the pill that killed Lacourte. Investigators are still determining whether the suspects knew cychlorphine was present in the pills seized during the investigation.
Prosecutors face a legal complication
Cychlorphine presents an unusual problem for prosecutors because, despite its lethality, it is not currently specifically listed as a controlled substance under California’s Health and Safety Code.
Jenkins said prosecutors could pursue charges under the state’s controlled-substance analog law, but doing so would require expert testimony establishing that cychlorphine’s chemical structure or effects on the central nervous system are substantially similar to those of a Schedule I or II controlled substance.
That additional legal hurdle is one reason Jenkins called on the Legislature to act quickly.
“This is a drug that needs to be added to that list right away,” Jenkins said. “It is clear that this is a lethal drug, and there should be an accompanying state law that ensures that it is illegal.”
She said the federal government has only recently taken temporary action involving the drug while a permanent federal prohibition is considered.
Jenkins also left open the possibility of significantly more serious charges if investigators can establish that one of the suspects sold the drug that caused Lacourte’s death.
A drug officials say is more dangerous than fentanyl
Dr. Hillary Kunins, director of behavioral health for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, said cychlorphine is a powerful opioid that appears to act on the same opioid receptors as drugs such as heroin and fentanyl.
Officials have emphasized that counterfeit pills can be made to look like legitimate medications such as Xanax, Adderall, or oxycodone. Mayor Lurie warned that some buyers are finding the pills through social media and then being directed to encrypted websites.
“You cannot tell what is in them by looking at them,” Lurie said.
The city also faces a significant detection problem. Standard fentanyl test strips do not detect cychlorphine.
And while naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, can reverse an overdose involving cychlorphine, Kunins said there is not yet enough experience with the new drug to establish a precise window in which treatment will be effective.
‘We will not let that happen again’
Lurie repeatedly cast the arrests as evidence that his administration is taking a different approach to the city’s drug crisis.
“San Francisco was caught flatfooted by the fentanyl crisis,” Lurie said. “We will not let that happen again.”
He said the city intends to identify emerging drugs, warn the public and pursue those selling them.
“When a new deadly drug appears in San Francisco, we are going to find it,” Lurie said. “We are going to track it. We are going to warn people about it, and we are going to go after the people that sell it.”
Lurie also invoked his own children while discussing the death of the teenager.
“As a father of a 15-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, this hits very close to home,” he said.
The mayor said the city had made progress in its broader overdose response, including expanding treatment and opening a behavioral-health stabilization center. He said San Francisco recorded its fewest overdose deaths on record over the summer, while acknowledging that even a single death is too many.
For Jenkins, however, the death of Lacourte underscored why prosecutors intend to continue pursuing drug dealers.
“Drug dealers prey on our most vulnerable, and as is clear here, they prey on our children,” Jenkins said. “This is a reminder to the users, to those who are addicted, you cannot trust those who are selling to you.”
Authorities said Lacourte remains the only known person in San Francisco to have died from cychlorphine. Kunins said there have been no other known deaths from the substance since April.
The investigation is ongoing, as authorities try to determine the source of the cychlorphine and whether it was deliberately included in counterfeit pills.
For now, Jenkins said, the four defendants will face the charges already filed against them, while prosecutors continue to investigate whether additional charges are warranted.
“We’ve just filed it,” Jenkins said. “There’s still a lot to learn. And there is more that may come to light.”
