Posted By Thadeus Greenson@ThadeusGreenson on Tue, Apr 13, 2021 at 8:52 AM Humboldt County is in the midst of a surge of fentanyl-related overdose deaths, alarming local officials who have long braced for the powerful opioid’s impact on the North Coast.
Fentanyl has accounted for nearly 50 percent of Humboldt County’s alcohol and other drug (AOD) deaths so far this year, with five overdose deaths logged in March alone, according to data provided by the Coroner’s Office. And through the first three months of the year, 2021 had already matched the number of fentanyl overdose deaths recorded in Humboldt County in all of 2019 and was on pace to more than triple last year’s tally.
Southern California Man Arrested for Drug Trafficking in Willow Creek; Nearly a Pound of Meth Seized, Drug Task Force Says
Seized evidence. | Photos provided by the HCDTF
Humboldt County Drug Task Force press release:
On April 7th, 2021 agents with the Humboldt County Drug Task Force (HCDTF) made a traffic stop on a vehicle in the 39000 block of Highway 299 in Willow Creek.
Thomas Valdepena.
Agents had a search warrant for the driver, Thomas Valdepena (53 years old from San Bernardino). Agents have been investigating Valdepena for trafficking methamphetamine from southern California into Humboldt County.
During the service of the search warrant agents located 390 grams (over ¾ of a pound) of methamphetamine, 3 grams of heroin, a digital scale, and packaging inside of the vehicle.
Submitted.
Next week will mark the fourth anniversary of the fatal stabbing of David Josiah Lawson, a 19-year-old Humboldt State University sophomore whose still unsolved killings left fissures throughout the local community.
Lawson died early in the morning of April 15, 2017, after he was stabbed multiple times including once to the heart amid a series of fights at an off-campus house party in Arcata. Kyle Zoellner, a then 23-year-old McKinleyville man, was arrested at the scene and charged with Lawson s murder but within weeks a Humboldt County Superior Court judge had dismissed the case against him, finding there was insufficient evidence to hold him for trial.
Eureka Police Department press release:
On March 31, 2021, the Eureka Police Department’s Problem Oriented Policing Team
(POP), with assistance from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force (DTF), arrested 41-
year-old
Jorge Alcazar Vasquez of Rio Dell following a months-long investigation into
ongoing sexual assault of a child under 10.
The Eureka Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Section (CIS) headed the
investigation into the ongoing assaults that occurred in Eureka. The report was
submitted to the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office and an arrest warrant for
Alcazar Vasquez was issued.
Alcazar Vasquez was transported and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional
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