EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 A 46-year-old man has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty in connection with a 2024 fentanyl overdose death inside the Downtown El Paso County Detention Center, a case the El Paso District Attorney\u2019s Office says is the first of its kind in the Borderland region under a relatively new Texas law. <\/p>\n
According to the El Paso District Attorney’s Office, Eric Robles, 46, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Monday for murder and 15 years in prison for manufacturing\/delivery of a controlled substance, with the sentences running concurrently. <\/p>\n
Robles pleaded guilty to the two charges in connection with the 2024 death of 49-year-old Jesus Hernandez, who was found dead inside the Downtown El Paso County Detention Center on May 23, 2024. <\/p>\n
An autopsy later revealed a lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system at the time of his death, according to the district attorney’s office. <\/p>\n
Robles had been arrested May 16, 2024, at the Ysleta Port of Entry, where a federal arrest warrant was executed against him. He was booked into the El Paso County Detention Center and housed in the same cell block as Hernandez until he was transferred to the federal West Texas Detention Facility in Sierra Blanca on May 23, 2024. Corrections officers later discovered a package containing more than 25 grams of fentanyl hidden inside Robles\u2019s rectum that same day.<\/p>\n
The district attorney\u2019s office said the sentence is the first of its kind in the Borderland region because it follows Texas House Bill 6, a 2023 law that classifies the act of supplying fentanyl resulting in death as murder. <\/p>\n
The rising number of fentanyl-related deaths across the state prompted the legislative change, according to the district attorney’s office. <\/p>\n
\u201cFentanyl continues to be a deadly scourge throughout the nation. Eric Robles chose to distribute a deadly drug for his own benefit, and that choice cost Jesus Hernandez his life,\u201d District Attorney James Montoya said. \u201cIf you choose to traffic in deadly controlled substances, and you cause someone else\u2019s death, our Office will use every law available to hold you accountable.”<\/p>\n
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s El Paso Fentanyl Overdose Response Team, which includes investigators from the DEA, El Paso County Sheriff\u2019s Office, El Paso Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Texas National Guard.<\/p>\n
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