Man accused of giving deadly fentanyl dose to teen girl pleads not guilty

A Desert Hot Springs man accused of giving a fatal dose of fentanyl to his then-17-year-old girlfriend in an unincorporated area of Riverside County near Desert Hot Springs two years ago made an initial court appearance today.

Michael Garcia pleaded not guilty to felony counts of willful child cruelty and giving a minor a controlled substance as an adult during an arraignment Thursday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, according to case records.

The defendant's next scheduled court date is a felony settlement conference on Sept. 10.

Garcia was arrested around 7:45 p.m. Monday at the US-Mexico border after nearly a year-and-a-half on the run. He was returned to Indio following his arrest and booked into the John Benoit Detention Center Indio where he is being held in lieu of $75,000 bail.

The fentanyl-related death happened on the morning of Aug. 21, 2022. At around 9 a.m., deputies from the Palm Desert Sheriff's Station responded to a report of an unresponsive teen girl in her bedroom in the 15000 block of Via Quedo, according to Sgt. Sean Liebrand of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

"Lifesaving measures were unsuccessful, and the juvenile was ultimately pronounced deceased,'' Liebrand said in a statement. "The investigation determined the female juvenile had overdosed on fentanyl."

The department's Overdose Investigations and Narcotics Unit assumed the investigation and identified Garcia as the suspect who gave her the fentanyl, according to Liebrand.

According to a court declaration in support of his arrest, Garcia was present when deputies responded to the home, and he told investigator James Peters that the previous night he "purchased M-30 pills, which he stated he knew contained fentanyl, and provided them to (the girl)."

"Michael said he awoke the next morning to find (her) overdosing,'' Peters wrote in the declaration.

According to Peters, Garcia also told him that he knew the girl was only 17 years old but he had a sexual relationship with her for several months and was buying her fentanyl even though he knew she had been released from a residential rehab for fentanyl addiction a few weeks before her fatal overdose.

More suspects and arrests were expected in the case, Liebrand said at the time. It was not immediately clear if additional arrests have been made in connection to the case.

Anyone with additional information on the case was asked to call Peters at 951-955-1700 or Investigator Dan Shaffer at 951-955-1700.