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When someone suddenly falls unconscious in a public place and can’t be roused, a 911 Emergency call usually brings both emergency medical services and the cops to the scene.
That’s exactly what happened on the evening of November 16th when Ventura County Sheriff’s Department deputies rolled up to Don Cuco’s Mexican Restaurant in the City of Moorpark. The EMS team on the scene promptly administered Narcan to a victim suffering from an opioid overdose, saving another life.
According to VCSD spokesman Sgt. John Hajducko, it was at that point that an investigation into the source of what was quickly determined to have been a potentially fatal dose of fentanyl was initiated. Investigators attached to the Ventura County Fentanyl and Overdose Crimes Units (VC FOCUS), the Thousand Oaks Police Department Directed Enforcement Unit (DEU), the Moorpark Police Department, the Ventura County Sheriff’s K9 Unit, and the California National Guard Counter Drug Task Force quickly fell into full-collaboration mode and identified 28-year-old Thousand Oaks resident Scott Macmillian as the one who provided the illegal drug to the victim.
Three weeks later, on the morning of December 5th , a search warrant was served on Macmillian’s residence. As detectives entered the home, they discovered “numerous subjects barricaded inside their rooms.” Not long afterward, those individuals wisely surrendered to the cops, whereupon “an illegal marijuana cultivation operation” was discovered, along with 14 grams of fentanyl, 43 grams of methamphetamine, 45 grams of heroin, 24 counterfeit fentanyl pills, and 51 marijuana plants.”
Taken into custody and transported to Ventura County Jail along with Macmillian, were thousand Oaks residents Kyle Beldin, 33, Nickolas Oliver, 27, Cameron Burn, 34, and Kaitlin Brodie, 33. All five suspects were booked on charges of possession for sales of a controlled substance, outstanding warrants, and being under the influence of a controlled substance. Macmillian remains in custody with his bail set at $50,000.
