Of course it is in cesspool's county...

Murder charges brought after California girl's fentanyl death

By Andrew Chamings

In a first for Lake County, the overdose death of a teenage girl in November has resulted in a murder charge against the man who allegedly provided the drugs, the county sheriff’s office announced. 

On Nov. 10, 2023, sheriff’s deputies were contacted by the coroner’s office in Lakeport regarding the death of 17-year-old Native American teen Illeanna Frease. Frease had died of an overdose; toxicology reports would later conclude a combination of alcohol and fentanyl led to her death. 

An investigation into who provided Frease with the fentanyl, led by the Lake County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit, involved search warrants, interviews with witnesses, and a review of social media and cellphone data, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. This evidence led investigators to Joe Boggs Jr., a 27-year-old Lucerne resident. 

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office arrested Boggs Jr. in Lakeport on June 14. He has been charged with multiple felonies, including second-degree murder and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor. Boggs Jr. is being held in Lake County Jail, with bail set at $1 million. He is due in court Monday.

The case marks the first arrest in Lake County in a fentanyl homicide, the sheriff’s office said. California saw around 11,000 fentanyl deaths in 2022 — the most recent year of data available — an increase compared with previous years. Murder charges against those providing fentanyl across the state are also on the rise. In March, a San Jose man was charged with murder after a 26-year-old Morgan Hill woman died from a fentanyl overdose. Meanwhile, it was announced this week that Gov. Gavin Newsom has doubled the deployment of the California National Guard on the Mexico border to combat drug smuggling.