(The Center Square) A federal grand jury has indicted a Mexican man on drug charges for illegally importing the drug pentobarbital from Mexico into the United States with the intent of using it to commit suicide, after authorities found that in some cases people who bought the drug were already dead.
Pentobarbital is a short-acting barbiturate drug that is rarely used outside of hospitals. The drug is used in euthanasia of animals, assisted suicide and in some executions in the United States.
Chicago-based prosecutors charged Daniel Gonzalez Munguia, aka “Alejandro Vazquez,” 40, of Puebla, Mexico, with importation and distribution of controlled substances, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 60 years in federal prison if convicted.
Gonzalez Munguia is in US custody but a date has not yet been set for his arraignment in federal court in Chicago.
Homeland Security Investigations had been investigating the smuggling of suicide drugs after finding pentobarbital in a seized package from Mexico. The package contained two prepackaged 100-milliliter bottles, each labeled “sodium pentobarbital” and sold under the brand name “Pisavental.” Pentobarbital is sold commercially in Mexico for euthanasia of animals. The seized package also contained the anti-nausea drug metoclopramide and was headed to a hotel in Libertyville, Illinois, about 50 miles from Chicago.
Investigators tracked the man down in his hotel room. He told investigators he was depressed because his wife told him she wanted a divorce and police received a protection order from her. The man said he ordered a suicide manual online. The man, whose identity is not revealed in the indictment, said he no longer wanted to kill himself. The suicide manual provided a Yahoo! email address of someone who could obtain the suicide drugs. The man at the hotel is a licensed pharmacist and emailed the Yahoo! address requesting pentobarbital. The man eventually wired $644 to Mexico to buy two bottles of pentobarbital, according to the indictment.
Investigators later determined the Yahoo! address was linked to Gonzalez-Munguia.
In an email exchange with a Yahoo! address, the dejected man at the hotel was told the amount was “enough to ensure a peaceful exit for both of them.”
Another email was more specific: “This product is meant to be drunk, not injected. Although the bottle says it is for injection, please remember that this is primarily made for animals. Take 2 tablets 12 hours before the day you plan to take the product and 2 more tablets 30 minutes before, mix with orange juice or an alcoholic beverage and drink all at once. The effects will come on in 20 to 30 minutes and you will feel drowsy, but this will be the only effect you will feel in your body. Please erase all emails between you and me and dispose of the bottle in a safe place.”
Prosecutors said Gonzalez Munguia ran an online business selling pentobarbital to people in the United States and around the world who were considering suicide.
During the investigation, police found mail packages they believed Gonzalez-Munguia had sent from Mexico. Authorities in the U.S. and several other countries conducted searches and seized pentobarbital from people who admitted to ordering the suicidal drug online from email addresses operated by Gonzalez-Munguia, according to the indictment and a criminal complaint previously filed in the case.
Police provided assistance to those individuals. In other cases, people who purchased pentobarbital through the email addresses have been found dead, including people in the Chicago area and several other states and countries, according to the indictment.
A 29-year-old California man who purchased three bottles of pentobarbital for $700 was found dead in a La Mesa, California, hotel room in April 2016. The cause of death remains under investigation, according to the indictment. However, a search of his home uncovered a handwritten note bearing the name “Daniel Gonzalez Munguia,” as well as a blank Western Union form.
A 52-year-old man from Boulder, Colorado, purchased three bottles for $720 and was found dead in 2015. The Boulder County Coroner’s Office ruled he committed suicide and the cause of death was determined to be an overdose of pentobarbital, according to the charging documents.
Undercover agents later purchased pentobarbital directly from Gonzalez Munguia.
Pentobarbital is a Schedule II drug in the United States. It has also been found in other drug smuggling operations and is sometimes sold as an illegal drug, such as fentanyl. In 2021, the American Veterinary Medical Association reported a shortage of pentobarbital in 2021 and advised its members about alternatives at the time. The drug has also been used in executions. Previously, most U.S. executions relied on a mixture of three drugs, but when those drugs became difficult to obtain, some states switched to a single drug called pentobarbital. According to the medical journal and federal record BMJ, the federal Bureau of Prisons planned to use pentobarbital when former U.S. Attorney General William Barr reinstated the death penalty in 2019.
Authorities have found pentobarbital in other smuggling operations: In 2019, a U.S. Coast Guard team boarded a vessel off the coast of Oregon and found 28 seven-gallon bottles of liquid methamphetamine and plastic-wrapped chunks of pentobarbital, according to court records and a Coast Guard report.
Earlier this year, DEA agents found With the seizure of 11 pounds of pentobarbital, they busted an illegal drug operation in Texas linked to drug cartels. In that case, dealers were selling the short-acting barbiturate pentobarbital as heroin, according to a DEA spokesman. Agents have seized large amounts of other, more common illegal drugs during the multi-year investigation, including 1,212 pounds of methamphetamine, 548 pounds of cocaine, 74 pounds of heroin and 22,600 pills laced with fentanyl. The spokesman called the pentobarbital seizure “unusual.”
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or are in a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can receive free, confidential crisis counseling by calling 1-888-NYC-WELL. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can call the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or Suicide Prevention Lifeline.org.
