HUNTER DWORACZYK [email protected]
WILLIAMSON COUNTY — The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office responded to four overdoses last week, including one death, according to the sheriff’s office.
The fatality was a woman in her 30s who died in the Brushy Creek area, near Round Rock.
Sgt. Heather Vargas, who’s over the organized crime unit that covers things such as narcotics and human trafficking, said that the cases are considered to be expected fentanyl poisonings.
“For overdoses, it takes a long time for the toxicology report and the autopsy to come back so of course we don’t know what the drugs are right now,” Vargas said. “Obviously, fentanyl has been statistically what most of our overdoses are, so we expect fentanyl for all of these.”
The three individuals who survived the overdosing incidents were males in their 20s in different parts of Williamson County. These incidents took place in Jarrell, in the Cat Hollow area and Georgetown, Vargas said.
Vargas said four fentanyl cases in the span of a week is a lot for the sheriff’s office to handle in one week, but aligns with a trend she has seen.
She said fentanyl overdoses seem to come in clusters, with a handful of incidents happening within a short timespan and then no activity reported for a couple of weeks until the next cluster happens.
“We call it a ‘hot batch,’” Vargas said. “When a fentanyl hot batch comes in, it gets distributed and then it comes to all the different areas.”
According to data provided by the sheriff’s office, there were 35 fentanyl-related deaths in Williamson County in 2023.
The number was gathered by collecting the number of cases from each of the county’s four justices of the peace.
However, Vargas said that the true number of fentanyl deaths is likely higher as over 40 toxicologies are pending from the past year.
The county has started an overdose taskforce, which includes law enforcement, educational aspects and rehab.
Vargas said the taskforce has partnered with Texas Against Fentanyl, an advocacy group who passed legislation to get mandatory education into Texas schools for students in sixth to 12th grade annually.
The education includes information from the Drugs Enforcement Administration such as the statistic that two nanograms of fentanyl is considered a lethal dose.
Two nanograms is similar to two grains of salt, Vargas said.
“Half that pill might not have the grain of salt and the other half will or both grains of salt will be on one half of the pill,” Vargas said. “Really when you’re taking these illicit drugs that you purchase from the streets or social media, you’re playing Russian roulette with your life.”
Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law effective Sept. 1 that allows those suspected of causing fentanyl poisoning to be charged with murder by the state.
