A 26-year-old man from San Jacinto is scheduled for sentencing to 12 years in state prison after pleading guilty to charges related to the fatal distribution of fentanyl. Samuel Leo Mussaw accepted a plea deal last month, admitting to voluntary manslaughter and possession of controlled substances for sale, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. This agreement led to the dismissal of a second-degree murder charge previously held against him.
The sentencing is set to occur Tuesday at the Banning Justice Center, overseen by Superior Court Judge Jorge Hernandez. Mussaw is currently detained without bail at the Benoit Detention Center in Indio.
Mussaw’s conviction stems from the March 4, 2021, death of 23-year-old Adam Young of San Jacinto, who succumbed to a fentanyl overdose. Sheriff’s Sgt. Rick Espinoza reported that emergency responders found Young unresponsive at his home on Cypress Drive, near Malaga Drive, following a reported drug overdose. Despite attempts to revive him, Young was pronounced dead at the scene.