BELLE CHASSE, La. — Coroners and drug agents are speaking out about the deadly counterfeit pills on the streets laced with fentanyl.
That warning message about fentanyl comes as a man is now behind bars and charged with murder, after one of those counterfeit pills took the life of a high school senior.
Last Friday, Hailey Deickman, 18, and another teen, were hospitalized unresponsive. Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Jerry Turlich says it's believed Hailey took half of a pill she thought was Percocet. Instead, it contained the deadly and powerful opioid fentanyl.
Tuesday, the graduating senior from Belle Chasse High School was gone. Hailey was a straight-A student who was planning to go to UNO in the fall.
By this Friday afternoon, Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's detectives, with the help of the West Bank Violent Crime Task Force, arrested Franklin Senfles, 22, of Gretna, in connection with her death.
Detectives say he used Snapchat to link up with teens looking to buy pills. He's now charged with second degree murder. He's also charged with attempted second-degree murder of the other teen who survived.
Deputies say Senfles was also arrested by JPSO in 2019 on possession with the intent to distribute drug marijuana and schedule II narcotics and again in 2021 by the Harahan Police Department for possession of marijuana.
“If we could warn parents to keep their children away from these, this drug, all drugs, but particularly this one, Fentanyl, which is epidemic in its destruction,” said Orleans Parish Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna.
Dr. McKenna says he is seeing a big rise in Fentanyl deaths of all ages, that includes local high school students like Hailey.
“People are not understanding how dangerous this particular drug is. I speak about it everywhere I go and try to warn people don't go near that, this medication. It's deadly. We're going to have you on the slab in our coroner's office,” he said.
The Special Agent in Charge of the DEA New Orleans field office is sounding the warning as well.
“We are seeing that one in four pills, counterfeit pills that we're seizing, has a lethal dose of fentanyl,” said Brad Byerley, SAC of the DEA New Orleans.”So the saying goes, ‘one pill can kill,’ really is true here.”
And people who use illegal drugs don't even know they are using Fentanyl. He says because it's so powerful, dealers can get a lot of new customers addicted fast.
“We're seeing it with methamphetamine. We're seeing it mixed with cocaine. We're seeing it mixed with ecstasy, that's the MDMA. We've even seen it in marijuana,” Byerley said.
The time to warn parents, schools and students is overdue.
The DEA is rolling out a new community outreach program called Operation Engage.
Parents and children are encouraged to educate themselves about the dangers of drugs by visiting DEA’s interactive websites at www.JustThinkTwice.com, www.GetSmartAboutDrugs.com and www.dea.gov