By Jondi Gumz
The first person to receive a fentanyl murder conviction in California was sentenced Oct. 10 in Placer County to 15 years in prison.
Nathaniel Cabacungan, 22, was convicted of second-degree murder for the fentanyl-related death of Jewels Wolf, 15, of Roseville, who was found dead in June 2022.
Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire said, “Fentanyl dealers, those who knowingly sell poison in our communities, we can hold them accountable and we will.”
Jewels’ mom, Regina Chavez, said “Our children will not be forgotten.”
Santa Cruz County Deaths
How has fentanyl poisoning affected Santa Cruz County?
Tragically, the number of fentanyl deaths has exploded from two in 2018 to 65 in 2022.
From January through August this year: 78.
Thankfully none of them 17 or younger.
But the deadly man-made drug is taking its toll — an average of nine people a month.
Santa Cruz County Coroner Stephany Fiore is struggling to keep up with the number of death investigations her job requires.
Fiore, as chief forensic pathologist, determines the cause and manner of death — suspected homicides, suicides, accidental deaths, natural deaths.
On Oct. 3, Sheriff Jim Hart got approval from county supervisors to hire a coroner-investigator for 18 months to assist. The deadline to apply is Oct. 27. The pay is $7,098- $8,982 per month. The goal is to hire for a Jan. 1 start.
Which age group has the most fentanyl deaths in 2022 and in 2023 so far? Middle-aged folk, over 40 and under 65.
Here are the data from Fiore:
| 2022 | 2023 | |
| 40-64 | 28 | 47 |
| 26-39 | 32 | 21 |
| 65+ | 1 | 6 |
| 18-25 | 4 | 4 |
| 12-17 | 0 | 0 |
Fiore noted the oldest person to die of fentanyl was age 77, and in addition to fentanyl, there was methamphetamine.
Asked what trends she sees, Fiore said it “looks like the overdoses may be shifting back in age groups to peaking in the 40-64 year group where we were seeing a shift towards the younger crowd in the early fentanyl crisis.”
She added, “I think that reflects fentanyl being more mainstream in our drug supply and the leading drug of choice amongst our addicts.”
Fentanyl has killed far more men than women.
- 2022: 14 women, 51 men.
- 2023: 8 women, 70 men.
The majority of the fentanyl fatalities are white.
- 2022: 44 white, 4 Black, 14 Latino, 1 Asian, 2 native American.
- 2023: 50 white, 4 Black, 20 Latino, 1 Asian, 3 native American.
Asked about fatalities by supervisor jurisdictions, Fiore said she didn’t have the numbers but added “most of our cases come from the San Lorenzo River belt and now in the Pogonip in the 95060 zip code or from Watsonville along the Pajaro River levee. The vast majority are unsheltered.”
Fiore expects to give her annual update to the supervisors in December. They meet Dec. 5 and 12, but agendas have yet to be released.
During 2022-23, the Sheriff’s Office Special Enforcement Team seized 3,282 grams of fentanyl.