Simi Valley Man Charged In Fatal Fentanyl Overdose

Tuesday September 17, 2024

     A Simi Valley man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for the fatal fentanyl overdose of a Thousand Oaks woman.

     42-year-old Michael Thomas McDevitt of Simi Valley is charged with furnishing the fentanyl and methamphetamine to Karissa Robinson who died on September 14, 2021.

     The Ventura County District Attorney's Office says that Robinson had been invited to McDevitt's home where he allegedly provided her with the drugs.

     They say that after using the fentanyl she immediately collapsed and never regained consciousness.

     Prosecutors allege that McDevitt failed to call medical care for Robinson several hours after he discovered she was no longer breathing.

     The DA says he and another man then drove her to a nearby fire station where firefighters tried but failed to revive her.

     McDevitt has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other two charges and he denied 16 special allegations.

     He was in the Ventura County Jail with bail set at $300,000 but the court docket indicated the judge was going to release him on conditional monitored release.

     He is due back in court on September 23rd.

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     Here is a link to another story we did earlier this year about an Oxnard man charged with murder in a separate fentanyl overdose death case...

https://kvta.com/news/murder-charge-filed-in-oxnard-mans-fentanyl-overdose-death/

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AND BELOW IS A STORY WE DID EARLIER THIS YEAR FROM THE VENTURA COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINERS OFFICE REGARDING OVERALL STATISTICS INVOLVING DRUG DEATHS IN VENTURA COUNTY FOR 2023...

     The Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office released its annual report on substance abuse deaths and while the numbers for 2023 were hopeful and showed overall deaths declining during the past three years, including for fentanyl, the battle to stop the scourge of drug and alcohol abuse is not over.

     That is especially true as it relates to fentanyl and opioids in general.

     Here is the report from the Medical Examiner's Office and it goes with the graphs they released that are shown above...

"2,035 deaths were reported to the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office during the 2023 calendar year. Jurisdiction was accepted for 1012 of these deaths, requiring further investigation and certification.

Postmortem examinations were performed on 785 cases.

Of the cases investigated, 265 deaths were due to overdose with medications, alcohol and or illicit drugs.

Of the 265 overdose deaths, 234 were accidents, 22 were suicides, eight deaths were of undetermined manner and one was a homicide.

Of these overdose deaths, men accounted for 201 deaths (76%) and women accounted for 64 deaths (24%)"

"Noteworthy trends:

1)The total number of overdoses in 2023 represent a 5% decrease since 2022 and a 8% decrease since 2021.

2)The number of fentanyl related overdoses decreased by 2% compared to the previous year.

3)Methamphetamine related overdoses decreased by 25% compared to the previous year.

4)The highest number of overdose deaths in 2023 were between ages 31 to 40 years (67 deaths). The highest number of fentanyl overdose deaths were between ages 31 and 40 (58 deaths).

5)The tranquilizer xylazine contributed to one death in 2023 which also involved fentanyl.

6)The designer drug and illicit benzodiazepine known as bromazolam contributed to seven deaths. All seven deaths also involved fentanyl."

      For more information meo.ventura.org