San Francisco police arrested four people after a months-long investigation into counterfeit pill sales that began with a 16-year-old’s suspected overdose death.
Police said the case started after Dante Lacourte was found dead in April at his Bush Street home. Investigators later carried out undercover drug buys and, on Sept. 8 and 9, arrested Nicholas Wallace, 46, Sharonee Hyson, 44, Leander Pitts, 46, and Starr Lamare, 39.
According to city authorities, officers seized more than 20,000 pills along with fentanyl and other narcotics. Prosecutors have filed multiple narcotics and firearms charges. Officials said it is still unclear whether the alleged drug sales by the four suspects were directly connected to Lacourte’s death.
Authorities said Lacourte is the city’s first known victim of a mix of drugs that included cychlorphine, a synthetic opioid they described as far more potent than fentanyl. Officials also said the drug is difficult to detect with fentanyl test strips, and no other deaths tied to it have been reported so far.
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