Four men from Honduras were arrested on federal drug charges Thursday as part of an investigation into recent deadly overdoses in Washington County.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning Wednesday of a potentially dangerous batch of drugs circulating on the streets. They said local law enforcement responded to 15 overdoses since June 2, five of which resulted in fatalities. Each is likely from fentanyl use, according to the sheriff's office.
Since Friday, June 2, six people overdosed in Beaverton and two did not survive. One person fatally overdosed in Hillsboro. Seven people overdosed in unincorporated areas of the county, of which two died.
Initially, on Wednesday evening, the sheriff's office said only one of the overdoses in Beaverton was fatal. Detective Anel Ceric told KATU on Thursday that a second person had died.
"The amount of overdoses is significantly higher than normal, especially with the number of fatalities," Ceric said.
The Westside Interagency Narcotics (WIN) Team identified the source of the narcotics through several levels of drug dealers, and on Wednesday evening they served a search warrant at a hotel in Portland.
“Manuel Velazquez-Estrjo, from Honduras, Jorge Rivera-Nunez, from Honduras, Dennis Palma-Hurbina, from Honduras, and Gretsel Ramos-Balladares, from Honduras, were identified as being involved with the hotel room were taken into custody for federal drug crimes,” the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies found more than 6.25 pounds of fentanyl powder and 4.25 pounds of rainbow fentanyl pills, as well as 310 grams of meth and $11,707 cash.
Ceric said investigators believe each overdose stems from a bad batch of fentanyl sold on the street.
"I'm assuming this batch has a lot more fentanyl in it than normal," he said.