MULTNOMAH COUNTY, Ore. — A man accused of selling fentanyl to a 29-year-old who died from an overdose in December pleaded not guilty in court Monday morning.
Last week, a grand jury indicted Hugo Gamez-Soto on ten charges including criminally negligent homicide and multiple counts of delivery of a controlled substance, including within 1,000 feet from a school, according to Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt.
On Dec. 30, the 29-year-old, who has not been named, had collapsed inside his residence, according to a court affidavit. A relative and first responders administered several doses of Narcan and transferred the man to Oregon Health & Science University hospital, where he died.
Medical staff said fentanyl had been in the man's system. He was also found with blue pills and white powder containing fentanyl, authorities said. The victim's family also said he had been struggling with fentanyl addiction, according to the affidavit.
Police officers reviewed his phone records and discovered the man had text messages less than 24 hours before from a number that was matched to Gamez-Soto. Police Portland Bureau (PPB) investigators then posed as the victim, arranging to meet Gamez-Soto, who seemed to know the victim's phone number and address of where to deliver the fentanyl, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office.
When officers met with Gamez-Soto near Ida B. Wells High School, they found him with 20 pills and two 1-gram baggies that tested positive for fentanyl, as well as baggies for packaging drugs inside his car. The pills and powders were also similar to those found on the victim, according to the affidavit.
Gamez-Soto, after being read his rights in Spanish and consenting to his vehicle being searched, said he had been selling fentanyl to the victim and that they would meet near the victim's house for their transactions, adding that he is aware of the dangers of fentanyl, the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office said. Gamez-Soto said he had been given the victim's phone number by another person, according to the affidavit.
According to police, this is the first case indicted in Multnomah County Circuit Court for a death connected to a drug overdose.
"Of course, we don't want anyone to die from drug overdoses," said Portland Police Bureau spokesman Mike Benner. "But it's good to know that this is now a valuable tool we have to hold people accountable."
Gamez-Soto, a citizen of Honduras, had 14 different aliases and had been arrested five times for drug-related charges, some involving narcotics and heroin, in California in 2004 and 2006, Washington in 2009, Colorado in 2014 and Utah in 2017, according to the affidavit. He had been deported to Honduras after his 2014 arrest but had returned.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Glen Ujifusa presented the case to the grand jury, which returned a true bill of indictment on Feb. 1. Ujifusa also filed a motion seeking preventive detention, which was granted on Tuesday "due to the seriousness of these crimes and the risk that Gamez-Soto poses to public safety," according to the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office. Preventative detention is for the purpose of preventing further harm or protecting either the public or the defendant awaiting trial.
Gamez-Soto's next appearance in court is scheduled for March 18.
Correction: A previous version of this story used the last name Gomez-Soto, which was incorrectly spelled in court documents and a news release.