A Stockton drug dealer was sentenced to five years in prison in a case that involved a police dog sniffing fentanyl during a raid and having to be resuscitated with Narcan.
Charles Benavides pleaded guilty to possession of fentanyl for sale, with an enhancement for having more than an ounce of the deadly drug, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office said. In addition, Benavides also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of causing injury to a police dog.
The case illustrates the dangers that police dogs encounter.
“This case highlights not only the volume of this dangerous drug but the real risks our officers —and their K9 partners — face every day. I commend the quick response that saved the life of the police K9 and reaffirm our office’s commitment to aggressively prosecuting those who traffic this poison,” said District Attorney Ron Freitas in a statement Thursday.
The case stemmed from a raid on Benavides’ Stockton home on April 23 by a team of officers that included a San Joaquin County Sheriff’s SWAT team. According to prosecutors, Benavides denied having any drugs on the premises when questioned by officers, but a police K9 named Jack found the fentanyl powder.
While that may have established the crime, Jack inhaled the powder and started showing symptoms of an overdose. Just as they would had Jack been human, officers administered the counteracting drug Narcan to the dog and then rushed him to a vet. Jack recovered.
The raid yielded 329.4 grams of powder fentanyl, about 1,000 blue M30 pills suspected to contain fentanyl and three pounds of processed marijuana, the DA’s office said.