SAN JOSE — A one-time pharmacy worker whose state credential revoked after stealing narcotics from his employer is now facing a murder charge for allegedly selling cocaine secretly laced with fentanyl to a South Bay woman who died from an overdose last year.
Benjamin Nathan Williams, 34, of San Jose, was charged Friday with one count of murder and a felony drug sales count in connection with the Feb. 13, 2023 death of 25-year-old Hope Noel Warrick at her home in unincorporated Morgan Hill.
The criminal complaint containing the charges accuses Williams of telling Warrick through Instagram the previous night that he had included an unspecified addition to cocaine he was selling her. An investigative summary written by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office states that they obtained messages that “clearly indicated that (suspect) Williams sold (victim) Hope what she believed was cocaine and added in some extra for her.”
Sometime after, an apparently concerned Warrick conducted an internet search on how to know whether a substance contained fentanyl, investigators wrote.
On the afternoon of Feb. 13, 2023, Warrick’s father, who had become worried that she had not been responding to text messages, checked her studio apartment — located on the same property as the family home — and found her foaming at the mouth, according to the investigation. She died where she lay.
Responding deputies recovered narcotics and drug paraphernalia at the scene, and identified Williams as her likely drug dealer after examining her phone. Sheriff’s detectives obtained a phone that was confiscated from Williams after a 2022 arrest in San Jose, and reportedly discovered messages and photos showing him using and selling fentanyl, as well as evidence of his “knowledge of the dangers of fentanyl.”
Detectives established a clearer link between Williams and Warrick after Williams was arrested last November in Morgan Hill on suspicion of robbery and evading police. The phone he was carrying was seized and examined; it reportedly contained the correspondence between him and the victim on the night she died, according to the investigation.
Those messages, detectives wrote, included a remark that Williams “was adding some more in for her” without specifying what he was adding to the cocaine he was selling her.
Williams attended Cal State Monterey Bay and earned a degree in molecular cell biology. State records show that he obtained a pharmacy technician registration number in 2016, but had it revoked in 2021 by the Board of Pharmacy under the California Department of Consumer Affairs. An investigation had found that Williams was fired from a Walgreens in the Monterey County city of Marina, after stealing hydorcodone, morphine, and other controlled substances.
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Murder charges for people accused of selling fentanyl-laced drugs to overdose victims are relatively rare but becoming more visible as the country combats a flood of opioid deaths and addiction. One of the earliest instances in Santa Clara County was in 2020: A man used Snapchat to sell what his buyer believed were Percocet pills but were laced with fentanyl, leading to the death of an 18-year-old Santa Clara woman.
At least four fentanyl-related murder charges have been filed in the county against alleged drug dealers since, though the prospects of murder convictions have been challenging given spirited arguments, in and out of court, over how culpability is shared between a dealer and buyer. For instance, in the 2020 South Bay case, the dealer ended up being convicted of manslaughter.
The debate has made its way into the halls of the California Legislature, which has wrestled between increasing penalties for fatal drug sales and offering more resources and treatment for people whose addictions help fuel the fentanyl economy.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.