New court documents shed light on how two men in Whatcom County Jail may have obtained fentanyl while locked inside their cell — and how one of the inmates died on March 13 while the man who provided the drug watched, according to police.
County prosecutors are charging Angel Leffingwell, 38, with controlled substances homicide in the overdose death of Andres Haas, 28. Leffingwell will file his plea in superior court during his arraignment on Friday, March 29, the court clerk’s office said.
Corrections officers found Haas and his cellmate, Richard Garza, unresponsive around 10:18 a.m. on March 13. The officers used a defibrillator and multiple doses of Narcan but could not revive Haas. Garza responded to the Narcan treatment and was transported to PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center, court records state.
After he returned from the hospital, Garza told police Leffingwell arrived in the housing area the day before the incident and offered drugs to Garza and Haas. Leffingwell slipped a white powder under the door the evening of March 12 and again on the morning of March 13, according to court documents.
Garza told police the next thing he remembered after snorting the powder that morning was waking up in an ambulance.
Preliminary results from Haas’ autopsy indicated he had fentanyl in his system when he died. Samples from both Haas and Garza were sent to the Washington State Patrol’s toxicology lab to confirm the presence of drugs, according to the court record.
William Hagen, an inmate in a neighboring cell, told police he watched Leffingwell rattle Haas and Garza’s door, trying to get them to respond.
“Hey, hey guys, I need you to say something,” Leffingwell said, according to the police’s account of Hagen’s statement.
Leffingwell wouldn’t tell Hagen what was happening in the cell next to his.
“I don’t want to get them in trouble,” Leffingwell reportedly told Hagen, according to court documents.
Closed-circuit television cameras in the housing unit picked up Leffingwell’s actions around Haas and Garza’s cell, including an apparent attempt to clean up vomit that was seeping under their cell door, the court documents state.
Records from a separate case say Leffingwell was found with drugs in his possession at the jail at least once before, during an unrelated incident on Feb. 26.
Leffingwell was searched after corrections deputies at the jail received a complaint of drug activity in two cells, according to arrest records from the Feb. 26 case. Officers discovered Leffingwell was hiding 7.9 grams of suspected fentanyl in his mouth and a body cavity.
Leffingwell has been in jail since Feb. 25, after leading law enforcement officers in a high-speed chase, court records state. Police found suspected fentanyl and methamphetamine in his vehicle after he was captured.
Ralph Schwartz is CDN’s local government reporter; reach him at ralphschwartz@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 107.
