They are accused of giving a man the drugs that killed him. They're facing federal charges in the Tri-Cities

Two Kennewick men remain in a federal detention center, accused of killing a Tri-City man last fall.

They didn't use a gun or knife, or even their fists.

The deadly weapon this time was a handful of small pills called "Mexis."

Investigators say hundreds of the pills — which sell for about $22 each on Tri-City streets — contain fentanyl, a potent and often deadly opioid.

The victim, called R.B. in court documents, was found dead in his apartment. Near his body, officers found the pills.

Jubentino Soto, 33, of Pasco and Hector Medina, 36, of Kennewick were indicted by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court with selling the lethal dose.

They are the first federal charges to result from a new partnership between Kennewick police and federal drug investigators.

But they won't be the last, said Kennewick Sgt. Aaron Clem.

That's because the national epidemic of opioid-involved deaths has reached the Tri-Cities.

In Kennewick alone, 14 people died from opioids since January 2017. That's nearly half of all drug overdose deaths in Benton County during that time.

"The plan will be to aggressively investigate any overdose death," Clem said. "If there is any way to identify any of the people that provided them, we will look at potentially charging them with that death."

Police believe pressuring the suppliers with a federal charge that carries a minimum 20-year prison term will cut the supply from the street.

Part of a national push

Kennewick is the latest local police force in the country to partner with a U.S. Attorney's Office to go after opioid dealers.

Other agencies, such as Richland police, also are looking to take advantage of the availability of federal prosecution, said Lt. Chris Lee.

From Maryland to California, U.S. attorneys have charged dozens of people with distribution of fentanyl resulting in people dying.

The move is part of a larger initiative started by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to form opioid task forces.

A steady increase in opioid-related deaths started in the mid-2000s with oxycodone and hydrocodone. Then it spiked in the early part of this decade with a resurgence of heroin.

The numbers of deaths from synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, then skyrocketed starting in 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It is the resolute policy of this administration and this Department of Justice to reduce these overdose deaths, to reduce addiction and to reduce the amount of prescription opioids in this country," Sessions said in February.

The federal task force formed earlier this year includes:

• Criminal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington.
  
  
• Federal organized crime and drug enforcement attorneys.
  
  
• A healthcare fraud assistant U.S. attorney and investigator.
  
  
• An intelligence resource specialist and law enforcement coordinator.
  
  

The program is still new in the nation, and its successes are still unclear.

In other states, charges have resulted in convictions, including a 26-year sentence for a California man, a 20-year sentence for a South Carolina man and a 20-year sentence for an Ohio man.

New court, old charge

While the federal push is recent, the idea of charging drug dealers with murder is not new.

A state law has been on the books since 1987.

The crime — controlled substance homicide — is a class B felony and can carry a maximum sentence of 10 years.

While the option has been available, the last time the law was used in Benton County was in 2011 to charge a then 35-year-old drug dealer, Brian H. Burt, with two deaths. He faced a third count in Franklin County.

He was accused of being in the same room as two fellow heroin addicts, Shirley E. Sanders, 44, and Derek Scott Bradley, 21, when they died. He was known to supply heroin to Liam D. Hermsen, 29.

While he was charged with three deaths, police and prosecutors tied him to three other deaths.

In the end, he was sentenced to five years in prison.

At the time, Prosecutor Andy Miller said the plea agreement was "intended to achieve justice for all of the families, not just the families whose loved one's death was included in a guilty plea."

The law has been rarely used in Franklin County.

It can be a difficult charge to prove, said Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant. Not only do they need to show the suspect supplied the drugs to the victim, they also need to prove that it was that particular dose that killed the person.

"We must believe that a reasonable jury would find sufficient evidence of each element beyond a reasonable doubt before we would file charges," Sant said.

Prosecutors in other counties, including Cowlitz, Kitsap and Kittitas, have turned to the charge to punish people who provide the drugs leading to an overdose.

With the increase in opioid-related deaths in the Tri-Cities, Kennewick and Richland police are keeping track of the number of overdoses in their cities.

Along with stiffer penalties, the federal government also has more money to help with the investigation, Clem said.

He said they will be looking at more of these charges moving forward.

This story was originally published June 17, 2018 at 2:16 PM with the headline "They are accused of giving a man the drugs that killed him. They're facing federal charges in the Tri-Cities."