Man arrested after teenager dies from fentanyl overdose

A man accused of giving his 17-year-old girlfriend a fatal dose of fentanyl two years ago near Desert Hot Springs was arrested this week near the Mexican border, authorities announced Tuesday.

Michael Garcia, 23, was arrested in the El Centro neighborhood around 7:45 p.m. Monday and transported back to Indio, where he was arrested on suspicion of illegally distributing a controlled substance to a minor and endangering a child, according to inmate records and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

He was held on $75,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court in Indio on Thursday for arraignment.

At approximately 9 a.m. on August 21, 2022, officers responded to a report of an unresponsive juvenile girl in her bedroom in the 15000 block of Via Quedo, according to Sergeant Sean Liebrand of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. This is an unincorporated area just outside the city limits of Desert Hot Springs.