A Kennewick father died after overdosing on fentanyl-laced pills. Dealer gets prison time

A Kennewick father addicted to prescription drugs will spend 15 years in prison for supplying the pills that killed another dad.

Hector M. Medina, 37, moved significant quantities of drugs throughout the Tri-Cities, including fentanyl-laced pills, or “Mexis.”

One day in October 2017, he sold seven Mexis that eventually ended up in the hands of a man identified only as “R.B.”

R.B. was a father of two who had serious back pain from his work and had turned to opioids to combat the pain. He had tried to overcome the addiction, even going to an out-of-state clinic, but had relapsed in the weeks before, according to federal court documents.

That night, R.B. took two of the pills and overdosed.

His wife found him unresponsive in the bathroom of their Kennewick home, and paramedics were unable to revive him.

A doctor determined that R.B. “would not have died but for the fentanyl” that was mixed with acetaminophen in the pills he took.

Two indicted on drug charges

Both Medina and R.B.’s longtime friend, Jubentino Soto Jr., were indicted in May 2018 for distributing fentanyl resulting in a death.

Documents state that Medina was the drug dealer who supplied Soto with the drugs, who then gave them to R.B.

Soto allegedly regretted what happened to his friend, but was too afraid to name his supplier when questioned by police.

The two men pleaded guilty earlier this year in U.S. District Court to the amended charge of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.

Medina recently was sentenced in a Richland courtroom to the 15-year term, to be followed by five years on court supervision.

Judge Sal Mendoza Jr. recommended he serve the time in the federal facility in Sheridan, Ore., where Medina can do a 500-hour substance abuse treatment program.

Soto’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 19 before Mendoza.

Sentence a ‘stern warning’

“The sentence imposed ... is a stern warning to individuals who may distribute fentanyl-laced pills,” said William D. Hyslop, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. “Prosecuting opioid/fentanyl-related cases, particularly one where an overdose occurred, is a top priority.”

“Fentanyl-laced pills are a dangerous threat to our community and a major contributing factor to the opioid epidemic, an epidemic that has taken approximately 70,000 lives in recent years,” he added.

Hyslop said in a news release that the fentanyl pills, also referred to as “fake oxys,” are illegally manufactured most commonly in Mexico and have found their way into the local community and others in devastating numbers.

Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and hundreds of times more potent than street-level heroin, he said.

At sentencing, Mendoza commented about Medina’s direct role in poisoning the community and, in this case, directly causing the victim’s death, said Hyslop.

The judge also noted there were no words of comfort that he could provide to R.B.’s family, so he told Medina his sole job now was to atone for his conduct.

Spokane attorney Roger Peven said his Los Angeles-born client had a difficult childhood and found himself on the streets in gang culture. He was shot several times in both legs in 2004, and moved to Washington state five years later to start over.

He abused opioids and other prescription drugs to ease the pain, both emotional and physical, his attorney said.

“Mr. Medina provided this drug to others in the same boat, people abusing prescription drugs, which resulted in tragedy,” Peven wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Mr. Medina recognizes loud and clear the impact his conduct has on his family, as well as R.B.’s family, which is a more powerful deterrent than a longer sentence.”

This story was originally published August 3, 2019 at 1:47 PM.