Skagit man pleads not guilty in this Whatcom County controlled-substance homicide case
The Skagit County man arrested for homicide last week for allegedly giving another man a fentanyl-laced pill, killing him, has pleaded not guilty.
Derik Anthony Shooster, 32, of Hamilton, pleaded not guilty Friday, April 16, in Whatcom County Superior Court to one count of controlled substance homicide and two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, according to court records.
Shooster is currently incarcerated in the Whatcom County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail or $7,500 cash bond, according to court records.
Shooster is the first person in Whatcom County court to be charged with controlled substance homicide in 2021, according to data from the Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Five people were charged in 2020, and none in 2019, according to the data.
Shooster was arrested after he allegedly sold a coworker a fentanyl-laced pill on April 6, which killed the man, court records show. Shooster was training the man and another witness while working a job for a Bellingham moving company, the records state.
The victim allegedly handed money to Shooster for a pill. Shortly after the victim took the pill, he became lethargic and Shooster and the witness put the man in a truck while they finished the moving job, according to court records.
The group returned to the moving truck depot in the 100 block of Kelly Road around 4 p.m. and left the victim in the truck, court records state. When the witness couldn’t get in touch with the victim several hours later, he grew concerned. The witness sent a friend to check on the victim, who found him dead in the truck, court records show.
In an interview with Whatcom County Sheriff’s deputies, Shooster allegedly told investigators he gave the victim one light blue pill with an “M” on one side and “30” on the other, the records state. The pills have been identified as counterfeit Oxycodone and Percocet made with fentanyl, according to the records.
An autopsy of the victim conducted by the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed there was alcohol and fentanyl within the man’s body. The medical examiner found no other medical conditions that would have contributed to the man’s death, and ruled it an overdose, the court records state.
The victim’s death has been linked to a spike in recent overdose deaths from fentanyl, according to the sheriff’s office.
Fentanyl is 80-100 times more potent than morphine, and carfentanyl is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, according to a previous story in The Bellingham Herald. A single dose the size of a pinhead can be lethal.
The first recognized cases of fentanyl pills, known as “M30s,” found on a suspect occurred during an arrest in Whatcom County in 2018, according to a previous news release from the sheriff’s office.
Since then, there were four fentanyl-related overdose deaths in 2019, and 23 fentanyl-related deaths in 2020 — a 475% increase.
There have been 11 fentanyl-related deaths in the first three months of 2021 and carfentanyl has been detected in some of the victims.
This story was originally published April 16, 2021 at 3:07 PM.
