Tag: Fentanyl

BEVERLY HILLS—On Wednesday, February 5, 2025, the LADA’s Office announced that David Pearce, 42, was convicted by a jury on February 4 of two counts of first-degree murder in the fentanyl overdose deaths of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola in Beverly Hills in November 2021. Pearce was also convicted of rape and other sexual assaults against seven different women between 2007 and 2021.

The jury found Pearce guilty in case BA498423 of all charges and allegations: two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola; three counts of forcible rape; one count of sexual penetration by use of force; one count of sodomy by use of force; one count of rape of an unconscious woman; and one count of sexual penetration by foreign object in the sexual assaults of seven different victims.

He is scheduled to be sentenced March 13 in Dept. 109 of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Pearce faces 148 years to life in state prison. He will be required to register as a sex offender for life. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on both counts of accessory after the fact in the charges against Brandt Walter Osborn, 45. Osborn returns to court for a pretrial hearing on March 13 in Dept. 109 of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.

On November 13, 2021, at approximately 3 a.m., Pearce, Osborn, and Michael Ansbach, an acquaintance, met victims Giles and Cabrales-Arzola at a warehouse party in East Los Angeles. About two hours later, Giles and Cabrales-Arzola accompanied Pearce, Osborn, and Ansbach back to Pearce’s Beverly Hills apartment. While at the apartment, Pearce provided Giles, Cabrales-Arzola, and Ansbach gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and fentanyl, causing Giles and Cabrales-Arzola to fatally overdose.

Within about 35 minutes of arriving at the apartment, Cabrales-Arzola called a rideshare service to leave the location, but neither Cabrales-Arzola nor Giles left the residence until Pearce carried Giles out of the apartment about 11 hours later and carried Cabrales-Arzola out about an hour and a half afterwards.

Pearce dropped the victims off at two different local hospitals. Giles was deceased when she was dropped off at the hospital. Cabrales-Arzola was resuscitated and died 11 days later, one day short of her 27th birthday.

Upon further investigation, it was discovered that Pearce committed numerous drug-facilitated sexual assaults against multiple women. Seven victims testified at trial to Pearce’s sexual depravity and violent tendencies. The case was prosecuted by the office’s Sex Crimes Division and investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.

By Trevor

TOPANGA CANYON—On Tuesday, July 16, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that a woman has been charged with murder in the deaths of her three-year-old twin sons who were allegedly exposed to drugs laced with fentanyl, the highly potent synthetic opioid.

Jestice James, 22, is charged in case 24VWCF01433 with two counts of murder and two counts of child abuse/endangerment under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily harm or death. She is being held in lieu of $4 million bail. Arraignment is set for today, Dept. 10 of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Van Nuys Branch.

On July 11, shortly after 11 a.m., emergency crews responded to a home in the San Fernando Valley, where paramedics attempted life-saving measures on the twin boys, Josiah and Jestine. Both were taken to the hospital. Josiah died on July 11 and Jestine was pronounced deceased on July 13.

If convicted as charged, the defendant faces life in prison. The case is being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.

By Trevor

SANTA MONICA—Federal and local law enforcement agencies filed charges on Tuesday, May 10, against a man accused of selling counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl to three teenage girls in Santa Monica. Two of the teens who consumed the counterfeit pills experienced life-threatening overdoses. 

On May 24, 2023, the three teenage girls allegedly purchased blue pills, believed to be ecstasy, online from 22-year-old Adrian Benavides-Schorgi of Jefferson Park, Los Angeles. The following night at 11 p.m., officers from the Santa Monica Police Department responded to an address in the 2000 block of 20th Street near Pico Boulevard after receiving a report of overdoses. Two of the teens were in critical condition and transported to the hospital for medical attention. One teen was still conscious and alert. 

Authorities arrested Benavides-Schorgi on April 27, 2023, to be held without bond at a hearing the next day.

Upon an investigation by law enforcement, Benavides-Schorgi was charged by a federal grand jury with one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury. The trial for this case is scheduled to begin June 20, 2023, while the DEA and SMPD continue their investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy Beecher of the General Crimes Section is the prosecutor on the case. 

This is just one of 12 new federal cases involving fentanyl announced by law enforcement on National Fentanyl Awareness Day this Tuesday. Four of the cases involve suspects from cities in Los Angeles County, including Santa Monica, North Hollywood, Montebello, and Torrance.

The case against Benavides-Schorgi is only one of the 12 that does not involve the death of at least one victim. 

By Paige Strickland