Four people were arrested Wednesday for their alleged involvement in the overdose death of a 26-year-old Centralia man, the Centralia Police Department announced Thursday.
The victim has since been identified in Lewis County Superior Court documents as Justin R. Maggi.
Centralia officers were dispatched to a residence in the 300 block of South Pearl Street at approximately 8:40 a.m. on Nov. 2 after Maggi's roommate — identified in court documents as Timothy May, 32, of Centralia — reported Maggi was unconscious and not breathing, according to a news release from the Centralia Police Department.
Medics declared Maggi was deceased, with signs of a drug overdose being the cause of death, according to the news release.
The Lewis County Coroner’s office soon confirmed Maggi had fentanyl and carfentanyl, a potent opioid analgesic used most-commonly in veterinary medicine, in his system at the time of his death.
Detectives immediately launched a controlled substance homicide investigation and, due to the suspicion that fentanyl was involved, detectives requested assistance from the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET), according to a news release from the Centralia Police Department.
A Centralia detective soon secured a search warrant for Maggi’s cellphone and found Maggi had “admitted to a friend on Snapchat that he recently used opioids” and had texted May “about getting high” the previous day, according to documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court.
May reportedly told officers that prior to finding Maggi unconscious, he had not seen Maggi since the previous day, according to court documents.
When further questioned by detectives, May allegedly “came clean and admitted that he had recently been obtaining blue pills that looked like Percocet with ‘M’ and ’30’ impressions on opposing sides,” according to court documents.
May allegedly stated “he had recently been feeling depressed and started smoking the pills, knowing they contain fentanyl.”
May reportedly told law enforcement he and Maggi had smoked these pills together on three to four occasions. Most recently, they reportedly smoked a pill each the morning of Nov. 1 and smoked another pill each at about 6 p.m. that same day, according to court documents.
Maggi reportedly left May’s room after that, with May believing that Maggi went back to his own room directly across the hall, according to court documents.
The next morning, Nov. 2, May reportedly woke up and “saw Maggi laying on the ground, partially inside and partially outside his own bedroom curtilage,” according to court documents.
May allegedly admitted to “dragging Maggi the rest of the way into Maggi’s room before calling 911,” according to court documents.
During this investigation, May allegedly admitted to having approximately 115 fentanyl pills left in his room, along with several firearms. Officers did find 115 pills in May’s room, along with two scoped high-powered rifles, an AR-15 rifle and a 9mm handgun, according to court documents.
May was booked into the Lewis County Jail at 2 p.m. on Nov. 2. He has since been charged with one count each of controlled substances homicide and violation of the uniform controlled substances act. Each offense carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
His bail was set at $200,000 on Thursday.
May allegedly told officers he had “contacted old friends,” identified in court documents as Brandy Nicole Hunter, 30, and William “Josh” Jones, 34, both of Winlock, who brokered a deal with a Winlock man — later identified as Jackie Dean, 55, of Winlock — to trade May’s AR-47 rifle for 230 to 260 pills, according to court documents. May reportedly went to a location in Winlock with Hunter and Jones, where the Dean allegedly traded May the gun for the pills, according to court documents.
“May confirmed that the exact pills he had received in Winlock were the pills he and Maggi smoked before Maggi died,” according to court documents.
Centralia detectives and JNET responded to an address outside in the 700 block of Winlock-Vader Road, where they arrested Hunter and Jones.
Both were booked into the Lewis County Jail at just after 6 p.m. on Nov. 2. They have each since been charged with one count of violation of the uniform controlled substances act. Bail has been set at $100,000 each.
Detectives and JNET identified another residence outside of Winlock, in the 900 block of Byham Road, as a location where a subject was living who was connected to the drugs traded to May, according to the news release. Law enforcement located May’s firearm at this location and arrested Dean for violation of the uniform controlled substances act and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Dean was booked into the Lewis County Jail just before 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 2, according to jail records.
His bail was set Thursday afternoon at $200,000.
Arraignment hearings in all four cases are scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 10.
“The poisonous effects of fentanyl are killing individuals and devastating families,” wrote the Centralia Police Department, “With the recent amounts of deadly fentanyl that have been seized in our area, the Centralia Police Department and JNET have made it a priority to not only reduce the manufacturing, distributing, and transporting illegal drugs and guns within our community, but to also identify and arrest all the subjects who involved in the delivery of illegal deadly drugs like fentanyl.”
CPD detectives and JNET continued to follow developing leads and the investigation into Maggi’s death is ongoing, according to the news release.
Anyone with possible information on the incident is encouraged to call the Centralia Police Department at 360-330-7680 or Lewis County Communications at 360-740-1105.
