DENVER — Denver police arrested a man who allegedly provided fentanyl to a friend, who died after ingesting the drug in May 2022.
Investigators with the Denver Police Department arrested Ramon Junior Quintana, 40, on Friday.
The investigation began on May 8, 2022 just before 6:30 p.m., when officers responded to a restaurant along the 1100 block of N. Broadway after receiving a call about an unresponsive person.
When officers arrived, they found that personnel from the Denver Fire Department and paramedics with the Denver Health Medical Center were working to revive an unconscious person in the bathroom, according to an arrest affidavit for Quintana.
The 42-year-old man was pronounced deceased at the scene. The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner found that his death was partially caused "by the combined toxic effects of fentanyl and a low level of ethanol (alcohol)," the affidavit reads.
Through the follow-up investigation, police spoke with a person who said the victim had met with his friend, Quintana, the same day he died. Police found text messages between the two men "consistent with the planning of a fentanyl transaction," according to the affidavit.
Police later confirmed Quintana as the main suspect and he was arrested.
He is being held for investigation of manslaughter and distribution of a controlled substance.
The Denver District Attorney’s Office will determine formal charges.
Quintana has been arrested no less than 79 times and at the time of this most recent arrest, he was living in a halfway house as part of his sentence from a domestic violence conviction, according to the affidavit.
DPD said the Longmont Police Department and Lafayette Police Department helped take the suspect into custody.
