26 Jan Death by overdose results in charges | Western Colorado
Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies worked Friday morning to arrest or charge five people in Grand Junction in connection with the June 11 death of a Mesa County woman who overdosed on fentanyl.
Lexus Holder, 23, Geri Bochmann, 40, and Corina Holder, 46, were arrested Friday on federal charges of fentanyl distribution resulting in 32-year-old Ashley Romero’s death according to Steve Knight, the Drug Enforcement Administration resident agent in charge in Grand Junction.
Two others who are already in custody, Bruce Holder, 53, and Jessica Brady, 27, will also be charged federally with distribution resulting in the death of Romero. Holder is in federal custody and awaiting trial after being indicted by a federal grand jury last year in connection with the fatal fentanyl overdose of a Carbondale man in 2018. Brady is in custody on unrelated charges.
Five other people who were either arrested Friday or were already in custody will face federal or state fentanyl distribution charges unrelated to Romero’s death. Whitney Garcia, 26, Tyrese Holder, 18, Cory Colby, 19, and Michael Bowen, 26, were all taken into custody Friday morning on state warrants alleging conspiracy to distribute fentanyl or distribution of fentanyl.
Marie Matos, 37, who currently is in custody on a child sex assault-related charge, will face federal charges for distribution of fentanyl, according to Knight.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is considered 50 times more potent than heroin.
Knight said law enforcement believes Bruce Holder was “a major supplier of fentanyl in the area” and Friday’s arrests “will significantly impact the availability of fentanyl in the Grand Valley.”
Knight said since the DEA and the Western Colorado Drug Task Force began this investigation, overdose deaths in the Grand Valley have declined.
A total of 21 people died of drug-related deaths in Mesa County last year, a sharp drop from the 44 deaths in 2017, according to a report from the Mesa County Coroner’s Office.
A number of law enforcement agencies helped in Friday’s arrests, including the Grand Junction Police Department, Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, the Fruita Police Department, Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service, Western Colorado Drug Task Force and the DEA.