Ventura County Sheriff – Incident Press Release
On December 16th, 2019, patrol deputies were dispatched to a death investigation in the City of Moorpark. Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit detectives responded with the Moorpark Police Special Enforcement Detail to conduct the investigation, which appeared to be an overdose. The deceased victim had several pills at his home that were believed to have caused his death.
Additional evidence was gathered in this case and was later processed which identified Christopher Hanna as a suspect.
On December 26th, 2019, a signed search warrant was served at the suspect’s residence in Simi Valley. Christopher Hanna was at the residence and arrested for 11352(a) HS – Furnishing a controlled substance and 11375(b)(1) HS – furnishing a controlled substance. The search of the residence located a small amount of what are believed to be pressed pills which are consistent with the pills located at the victim’s residence after his death.
Hanna was interviewed and then booked into custody at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility in Ventura. He quickly made bail and was released from jail. Hanna’s arraignment court date was set for January 14, 2020. This case is still open because additional charges and arrests are possible.
Illegally pressed pills are extremely dangerous and have been linked to numerous recent overdoses within Ventura County. Illegally manufactured pressed pills do not have a safety testing mechanism, like the FDA, in place to ensure quality control. Pressed pills commonly are manufactured using fentanyl which is extremely deadly and a 2-milligram dose is a fatal amount for most adults.
The public may contact investigators from the Ventura County Interagency Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit at (805) 383-8700 or p [email protected] with additional information about this case, or any other information related to narcotics.
The Ventura County Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit is a task force made up of members from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, Thousand Oaks Police Department, the Ventura Police Department; The primary mission of the task force is combatting the transfer of legal prescription medication to the illegal market. In addition, the task force works to identify and stop new trends of abuse among the younger population and investigates overdoses due to both prescription medication and illicit drug use.
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