(Yuba County DA release) — Aaron Charles Henning, age 45, pled no contest Wednesday to multiple charges, including involuntary manslaughter, for the fentanyl poisoning and in-custody death of Matthew Perez on November 2, 2022, as well as the fentanyl poisoning of two other inmates. The court scheduled sentencing for May 1, 2023, when Henning will face an agreed upon sentence of 12 years and 4 months in state prison.
On October 26, 2022, agents from the Yuba-Sutter Narcotic and Gang Enforcement Team (“Net-5”) arrested Henning for possessing fentanyl for sale. The agents seized over an ounce of fentanyl during his arrest and booked him into the Yuba County Jail. Henning managed to conceal and smuggle an additional half ounce of fentanyl into the jail. On November 2, 2022, Yuba County inmate Mathew Perez became unresponsive and died despite life-saving measures by jail staff. The next day, two additional inmates lost consciousness from fentanyl poisoning but were revived by medical staff. An autopsy determined Perez died from fentanyl poisoning.
Yuba County Sheriff’s Detectives watched hours of video surveillance and conducted dozens of interviews to try to determine who smuggled and then distributed the fentanyl into the jail. Investigating crimes among inmates can be particularly difficult because victims and witnesses often refuse to cooperate. The detectives patiently persisted and the evidence eventually led them to Henning.
Henning admitted bringing the fentanyl into the jail, but told detectives he used it all himself. Henning was not shy talking about the fentanyl crisis. Henning admitted worrying about family members who use drugs, explaining how the stakes had risen “ever since Biden opened up the gates of hell,” allowing “safe passage” for fentanyl to be “backpacked” into the United States from Mexico. Calling the synthetic opioid “la muerte” and “gray death,” Henning was unequivocal about the danger: “It’s killing people.”
As part of his plea agreement, Henning admitted to smuggling and distributing the fentanyl into the jail and furnishing it to the three men who were poisoned, including Matthew Perez.
Thank you to the jail staff who worked to save these men and to the detectives who quietly worked to put the pieces of this puzzle together.
Fetanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is being sold on the street, often disguised as hydrocodone or Xanax or mixed into street drugs such as methamphetamine. A person who gives another person a lethal dose of fentanyl can be charged with murder, and in Yuba County we will do our best to hold those accountable who knowingly distribute “pills that can kill.”