A Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputy survived after catching fentanyl during his arrest, a recent internal investigation revealed.
The 2023 incident initially caused an alarm as officials believed he collapsed after being “exposed” to fentanyl. According to an internal report of 468 pages, a sheriff’s spokesman reminded the media that some witnesses had nearly died of the therapy.
Deputy Marvin Morales found no response on the floor of the sheriff’s station bathroom. Drug utensils were in the pocket of his uniform.
Morales later told sheriff’s officials that he had “intentions to commit suicide” intake of the drug because he had been suffering from depression. However, investigations show that this is not the first time Morales has used the drug he seized.
On October 24, 2023, Morales made a “suspicious theme stop” around 5:40 pm and found a tin foil bundle with methamphetamine, with the suspect’s pants sticking out. The report notes that laboratory tests of narcotics will later determine that the drug captured is fentanyl.
Representatives treated their colleagues with Nalkan after overdose.
(Sacramando County Sheriff’s Office)
Nearly three hours later, Morales, dressed in full uniform, entered the public hall and bathroom of the South Sacramento Sheriff’s Central Division Station. The investigation found Morales smoked some methamphetamine he grabbed using glass pipes, “he obtained methamphetamine at some point in his duty and caught a lighter in his patrol car.”
Another delegate found Morales unconscious on the bathroom floor. The report noted that a glass tube nearby had burning residue. Officials manage Narcan to reverse overdose. Morales was taken to the hospital for further treatment and survived.
The responding officer found Morales had grabbed methamphetamine’s tin foil earlier in the pocket of his uniform’s trouser.
The investigation also found Morales cited a person who lied for misdemeanors of occupying drug paraphernalia on two separate occasions in August, and then lied about how he handled the items.
Morales said in his regular crime report on each incident that he obtained a glass methamphetamine tube, “Because of the fragile state of the glass tube and avoiding destroying it, I took a photo with the iPhone issued by the department because I used this photo as evidence,” and placed the tube at the Sharif station.
In an internal interview, Morales admitted that he lied for one of the crime reports and brought the methamphetamine tube home and drew drug residues three to four times in four months, the report said.
Morales told officials that he did this because “it gave him the ‘energy’ he needed to write the custody report in writing.”
Investigators challenge Morales’ claim, citing his blood and hair samples as evidence of long-term medication use.
The report recommends termination of Morales and inform the Deputy Representative on January 4, 2024. Documents show that Morales resigned on February 2 of the same year.
according to California Peace Official Standards and Training Committee.
Speaking of colleagues seeking treatment after his colleagues almost died, Morales said in an internal interview that he wanted to “apologize to them, so bad, but I can’t. I’m not that strong brother.”
He continued to apologize to his partner and the sheriff’s office.
“That’s why I did it in that bathroom,” he said. “I don’t want the public to see me.”
