GALLIANO, La. — Two people were arrested and charged with dealing drugs after two teen overdoses in Lafourche Parish, one deadly, according to a statement by the sheriff on Tuesday.
The Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office said 18-year-old Sergio Perez and 21-year-old Anthony Francis were arrested on Thursday night and on Monday for dealing. Another teen, 18-year-old Blayne Terrebonne had already been arrested in connection with the case, deputies say.
Sheriff Craig Webre said that the two overdose incidents were related and that more arrests and charges, "are possible."
Sheriff's deputies responded to two calls about possible overdoses in Galliano early Thursday morning. The two overdoses happened just hours apart, one from the home of a 16-year-old boy and another from the home of a 15-year-old girl.
The 15-year-old girl was dead when deputies arrived. LPSO said investigators believe the girl thought she was taking the opioid pain-reliever Percocet. Instead, the sheriff said that the teen might have taken, "a pill that was pressed from pure fentanyl or a fentanyl mixture."
The 16-year-old boy survived the overdose after taking the same drugs, LPSO said. First responders gave the boy Narcan and took him to the hospital after he regained consciousness.
Perez, Francis, and Terrebonne were all charged with the distribution of a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance. The sheriff's office said more arrests are possible in this case.
“When you use a drug you bought off the street, you are – quite literally – risking your life,” Sheriff Webre said. “You are taking the word of a drug dealer on what the substance is. The question to ask yourself is whether the high you are seeking is worth dying over.”
Webre is pleading for parents to monitor their children and know the role that social media can play in drug purchases.
“We’ve repeatedly seen teens using apps like Snapchat to purchase and even advertise drugs for sale,” Sheriff Webre said. “This doesn’t mean every child using the app is taking drugs, but it does mean you need to monitor what your children are doing and who they are talking to. This is not an invasion of privacy or being a helicopter parent – it’s just called being a good parent.’”
Superintendent Jarod Martin of Lafourche Parish Public Schools agreed with Webre.
"We echo the message from the sheriff's office and ask that parents remain vigilant as we protect our children from the threat posed by deadly drugs," Martin said. "Which are an increasing threat to our community."
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