Police: Man charged with 15-year-old's death gave also gave drugs to a 13-year-old girl

WARWICK – Juan Pizarro, 34, took two juvenile girls to Motel 6 late that night – one 15 years old, the other 13 – and gave each a pill he thought was Percocet, an opioid painkiller, court records say.

But the pill ingested by the 15-year-old, identified last week by her relatives as Steyci Perez, was laced with fentanyl, police say. Steyci was found dead hours later at an apartment on Atwells Avenue in Providence where records say Pizarro dropped both girls off after Steyci fell unconscious.

In a court affidavit used to support the search of Pizarro’s car, Warwick Police Detective Terence McMullin outlined what police say happened in the early hours of April 3 and what Pizarro told investigators in a taped phone conversation.

“She was a friend of mine,” Pizarro allegedly said of Steyci, “and you know, I’ve never had a situation like that.”

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Apparently referring to his Percocet supplier, Pizarro told police: “It was from someone I know. I don’t want to rat on them, but if I have to, I’ll say it, cause ...”

What happened at Pizarro's arraignment

Pizarro was initially charged with two counts of delivering fentanyl to a juvenile and held without bail. On Monday he was arraigned on the additional charge of delivering a controlled substance resulting in the death of a minor and again held without bail.

His listed defense lawyer, Donna Uhlmann, did not immediately return a phone call Monday.

Members of Steyci’s family told The Journal last week that the Department of Children, Youth and Families had placed her in the foster home of a relative about two months ago. She was sometimes rebellious and prone to running off.

In his affidavit to search Pizarro’s car, Detective McMullin detailed the following events that police investigators in Warwick and Providence say happened:

Pizarro told investigators that around 1 a.m. on April 3 he received a text message from the 15-year-old. She asked that he pick her up and her 13-year-old friend at the Providence foster home where she was living.

The three sat parked outside the house for a few minutes and then decided to drive to Motel 6 on Jefferson Boulevard, in Warwick.

What happened at the Motel 6

Motel surveillance video showed the three entering Room 213. Pizarro gave the two girls each a pill he thought was Percocet. He said he didn’t see them take the pills, but a few minutes later the 13-year-old girl said she wanted to go back to Providence. Surveillance video shows them leaving the room about eight minutes after they arrived.

Steyci's relatives told The Journal last week that they learned by speaking to police that the 13-year-old girl managed to throw up the pill but that Steyci wasn't able to because she had nothing in her stomach at the time.

They got back in Pizzaro's blue BMW X5, and as they were driving out of the motel lot, a Warwick police patrolman stopped the car. It was 1:36 a.m. The officer gave Pizarro a warning for some offense not mentioned specifically in the affidavit and cleared the stop at 1:42 a.m.

Pizarro told investigators that at that point, the 15-year-old girl got into the front seat of the car. Pizarro told police she “started to be out of it ... making noises like she was asleep and snoring.”

13-year-old becomes concerned about Steyci

The 13-year-old took out her cellphone and began recording the ride back to Providence. “These clips depict the victim’s lack of consciousness during the car ride,” McMullin said in his affidavit.

The cellphone recording also picks up the voice of a man, “presumably Pizarro,” speaking to the 13-year-old, wrote McMullin: "Did you take the Perc yourself? ... I don’t feel like that. I feel real nice.”

The 13-year-old grew concerned about Steyci. She called a 16-year-old friend, who told her to bring Steyci to his home on Atwells Avenue.

By then, Steyci was unable to get out of the car herself, and the 16-year-old had to help.

The 13-year-old told a detective that “as soon as they got the 15-year-old juvenile out of the vehicle, Pizarro drove off.”

McMullin wrote that Pizarro told investigators he drove back to his apartment on Dexter Street in Providence and didn’t find out until later that day that Steyci had died.

Contact Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Juan Pizarro held without bail in RI 15-year-old's overdose death