Month: August 2023

Chinese fentanyl cartel ordered to pay Akron family $18M by judge

Ruling is first-of-it’s kind to go after overseas fentanyl producers

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) -On Wednesday, it was announced a Summit County judge ruled in favor of the Rauh family, who’s son died of a fentanyl overdose in 2015, and ordered a Chinese cartel to pay $18 million.

Thomas “Tommy” Rauh became addicted to prescription opioids after a rollerblading accident, which then led to him using heroin.

According to his father James Rauh, Tommy tried to overcome the addiction but took a fatal dose in 2015, laced with fentanyl.

The fentanyl that killed Tommy was traced to, and produced by, the Zheng drug trafficking cartel in China.

“Our son Tommy was stolen from us,” Rauh said. “He never stood a chance against the incredibly potent poison provided by the Zhengs. All for what? The reckless and malicious greed of the Zheng cartel. To save American lives, we must stop the foreign manufacturers and traffickers of illegal fentanyl and hold them accountable.”

Read the full article and watch the video on the Channel 19 website.

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‘They are dealing death’: WRAL Investigates goes undercover to get firsthand look at fentanyl crisis in NC

It’s a killer the size of grain of sand or the tip of a pen. Illegal fentanyl is running rampant through North Carolina, and the consequences are terrifying.

Fentanyl deaths are on the rise in North Carolina. Last year, 4,000 people lost their lives to drug overdoses in our state. The majority — 77% — died due to fentanyl poisoning.

The Nash County Sheriff’s Office recently confiscated enough fentanyl to kill every person in the county. WRAL Investigates spent several days with undercover agents and confidential informants on the streets of Nash County as law enforcement battles the war on this poison.

Early one summer morning, the Nash County Sheriff’s Special Response Team conducted a search at a mobile home. A family, including kids in their pajamas, filed out of the home. One person came out in handcuffs.

“Children put things in their mouth. That makes it more alarming,” said one member of the response team.

With their work done at the mobile home, the next raid was on, this time in Rocky Mount. A flash bang disrupts the silence at a home on Pine Street.The SRT quickly enters the home yelling, “Come to the center of the room” and “Hands Up!”

“This is an older neighborhood with a lot of good families in it. This house — drugs were bought out of it yesterday,” WRAL Investigates was told.

A search revealed fentanyl and heroin, as well as a stolen gun. The SRT also found high-powered ammunition.

“As you can see with tips of these they are capable of going through wood-framed houses and bullet-proof vests,” investigators told WRAL Investigates.

Targeting guns, drugs and gangs is the mission of the Nash County Sheriff’s Office under the direction of Sheriff Keith Stone.

Read the full article on the WRAL website.

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Families grieving fentanyl deaths to rally in support of new laws

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The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina will rally at the N.C. State Capitol Building later this month, pushing for stronger penalties for illegal distribution of the synthetic opioid and more funding for early intervention, Naloxone and processing toxicology reports. They are also asking state lawmakers for opioid overdoses to be investigated as homicides.

As NC Newsline has reported, North Carolina has been hard hit by fentanyl, an epidemic within the larger opioid epidemic. Some 13,671 North Carolinians have been killed by fentanyl in the last nine years, according to data from the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner — an average of eight people per day.

Even those numbers likely do not take in the full scope of the problem, medical experts say.

In North Carolina, death certificates don’t have a specific code for fentanyl’s involvement in a drug overdose. There is a code – T40.4 — for “other synthetic narcotic overdose.” The Epidemiology, Surveillance and Informatics unit of the N.C. Division of Public Health’s Injury and Violence Prevention Branch notes that most of these cases are “due to illicitly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogues,” but can also include prescription fentanyl and other, less potent synthetic narcotics like Tramadol.

An analysis of statistics from the state medical examiner’s office found overdose deaths with the T40.4 code rose from 442 in 2016 (the first year for which the office had such statistics) to 3,163 in 2021 — an increase of 616%.

As of April, according to OCME data, there were 1,116 fentanyl-positive overdose deaths in the state so far this year.

Read the full article on NCNewsline.com.

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Whose Child Dies Next?  Fight Illicit Fentanyl Rally 8/20/23 Raleigh NC

NC Fentanyl Victim Families invite the public to join as they Rise Up Against Fentanyl at the

Whose Child Dies Next?
Rally @ NC Capitol National Fentanyl Awareness & Prevention Day

  1. Sunday August 20, 2023, 2-4pm, Rain or Shine
  2. NC State Capitol Building, South Side, 1 West Edenton Street, Raleigh NC
  3. Parking: free on street and paid parking in municipal lots
  4. Rules: No signs on sticks/poles, no drones, no firearms/weapons, no climbing trees/walls, statues
  5. Attendees: open to the public, fentanyl victim families, press, elected officials, law enforcement, educators, advocates, allies
NC Fentanyl Facts
  • 13,671 NC residents have been killed by fentanyl in the last 9 years, enough to fill the Raleigh Convention Center (NC OCME)
  • 8 NC residents die each day by fentanyl
  • NC Infants, Toddlers, Middle & High Schoolers, and Young Adults are killed by fentanyl
  • Fentanyl deaths are preventable with early intervention education and naloxone
What NC Fentanyl Victim Families Want
  • To Save Lives!
  • Pass Senate Bill 189! Pass Senate Bill 250! Both modify GS 14-18.4 Death by Distribution Law
  • NC Legislature Must Increase Funding of NC DHHS NC OCME to increase Salaries & Hire Chemists to process Toxicology Reports. Right now there is 5-12 month delay in results reported back to grieving families & law enforcement!
  • For all drug related deaths to be investigated as potential homicides & crime scenes
  • To be recognized as Crime Victims by the NC Justice System & NC Law Enforcement

Organizers

FENTANYL VICTIMS NETWORK of NC
Barb Walsh, Executive Director
barb@fentvic.org
919-614-3830
website:  fentvic.org
501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit
EIN #88-3921380		FORGOTTEN VICTIMS of NORTH CAROLINA
Patricia Drewes, Founder
patriciadrewes@yahoo.com
252-204-9611
FB page link:
http://forgottenvictimsofnc.org/

“They need to get deadly fentanyl off of our streets,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “We can do more to hold accountable drug traffickers and keep the people of North Carolina safe. I’ll do everything in my power to rid our state of this scourge.”

For more extensive press release email request to barb@fentvic.org

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Overdose death investigation training open to law enforcement

RALEIGH – United States Attorney Michael Easley recently announced that his office is offering Overdose Death Investigation Trainings to law enforcement agencies in Eastern North Carolina.

Trainings were held earlier this year in Fayetteville and Carteret counties. The next training is being held in Northeastern North Carolina on Aug. 2 at the College of the Albemarle in Manteo. An additional training is planned on Aug. 11 at the New Bern Police Department.

“North Carolina reported a 22% increase in overdose deaths in 2021 with more than 4,000 people losing their life in a single year, and more than 77% of the deaths likely involving fentanyl,” Easley said. “Given this new and alarming trend, we want to ensure that law enforcement is equipped with the latest tools, technology, and best practices to investigate these overdose deaths and bring charges when appropriate.”

Read the full article on The Daily Record website.

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