Parents Pack Carrollton Auditorium After Fentanyl-Laced Pills Kill, Hospitalize Nine Students

Concern in Carrollton was evident as parents packed an auditorium Thursday night, requiring extra chairs for those desperate to voice questions and frustration.

“Many of us have found out from the news and through social media about these tragic events that have unfolded,” said a concerned parent.

This week, district families learned three Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD students, between the ages of 13 and 17, died and six more were hospitalized after taking Percocet and oxycontin pills laced with lethal doses of fentanyl.

The CDC reported that the synthetic opioid, often produced illegally is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.

In part, Thursday night’s purpose was to educate the community on just how far-reaching the problem is with parents like Christina Pena sharing how their children died.  

“This is my daughter Angelina Rogers,” said Pena.

In 2020, she said Angelina thought she was taking oxycontin to manage pain from endometriosis.

They’d later learn it was laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl.

“I never expected this. My daughter, she didn’t like drugs. She never associated with drugs,” she said.

Pena said this week’s news of the arrests of Luis Navarrete and Magaly Mejia Cano brought a fresh wave of grief.

A criminal complaint said the two dealt fentanyl-laced pills to several teen drug dealers, who then sold them to classmates at R.L. Turner high school and children at Dewitt Perry and Dan Long Middle Schools.

“I’m angry. I’m heartbroken for the families that have lost children. And I just have so many mixed emotions because I feel like this should have been addressed a long time ago,” said Pena.

She said Thursday night’s meeting is a first step in starting the conversation necessary to prevent other parents from sharing her grief.