A 41-year-old woman has been charged with attempting to smuggle fentanyl pills into a Los Angeles County juvenile detention facility where her child was a resident, officials announced Thursday.
The attempt to bring narcotics into the Barry J. Nidorf Youth Facility, located at 1635 Filbert Street in Sylmar, unfolded in 2023, according to a news release from the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors allege that Jeny Morenoparra was contacted at the facility by a supervising deputy probation officer who found more than 30 pills in her possession that later tested positive for the powerful opioid drug.
After her arrest in 2023, while former L.A. County DA George Gascón was in office, Morenoparra was released without charges.
Nathan Hochman, the current L.A. County DA, had the case reviewed when he took office and a warrant for the 41-year-old’s arrest was issued in May this year.
“Fentanyl is too dangerous a threat – 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine – to not treat its lethality with the seriousness and immediacy it requires,” he said.
Hochman added that Morenoparra’s alleged actions endangered the juvenile residents in the facility, including her own.
The 41-year-old, who was taken into custody without incident on July 11, has been charged with one felony count each of bringing an illegal substance into a jail facility, employment of a minor to sell or carry a narcotic and possession for sale of a controlled substance.
“Introducing drugs into a secure facility endangers public safety and lives, and undermines rehabilitation,” Chief Probation Officer Guillermo Viera Rosa said. “We appreciate the District Attorney’s focus on accountability and public safety.”
Morenoparra is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 1.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
