Man arrested in overdose deaths of 3 at after-party

PITTSBURGH >> A man was arrested Monday on suspicion of providing a white powdery substance tainted with fentanyl at an afterparty in Pittsburgh, leading to the death of three men.

Peter Rene Sanchez Montalvo was arrested around 3 a.m. on federal charges of distributing a controlled substance resulting in death and serious bodily injury, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Montalvo, 25, who also goes by the first name Carlos, appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Pittsburgh on Monday afternoon for a brief hearing. He said nothing except to answer the judge’s questions about requesting a lawyer be appointed to represent him, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Federal marshals returned him to jail pending a detention hearing on Sept. 26.

It’s unclear who alerted emergency authorities, who arrived at the apartment building around 4 a.m. Sunday to find several people dead or in need of medical help.

Three men — 32-year-old Rubiel Clemente-Martinez, of Columbus, Ohio; 38-yearold Josue Soberal Serrano, of Carthage, Missouri, and 32-year-old Joel Pecina, 32, of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania — were pronounced dead at the scene.

One man remained hospitalized Monday in critical condition, while others were in stable condition.

Five of the victims were found in an apartment. Clemente-Martinez was found outside an elevator at the building.

All of the victims who overdosed had been at the same bar on Saturday night, where a band was performing, and were invited to the apartment by Montalvo, according to Pittsburgh police.

A witness told investigators that Montalvo was “showing off all the money that he had” and then offered up a box of what the witness believed was cocaine, according to a criminal complaint.

The witness said Montalvo went around the room offering the drugs on a knife for partygoers to sniff, according to the complaint. The witness refused, a fight ensued, and the witness fled, the complaint says.

The medical examiner’s office has initially determined the powder contained the powerful opioid fentanyl, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

AP PHOTO/GENE J. PUSKAR Pittsburgh police investigators gather outside an apartment building on the city’s South Side where police say multiple people are dead and others are hospitalized in what they’re calling a “medical situation” Sunday in Pittsburgh.