Loved ones are remembering a young Southern California father who died from fentanyl as the suspect who sold him the drugs was sentenced to prison.

On November 11, 2022, Ian Pangburn, 26, purchased fentanyl from Javier Carlos Cruz, 23, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Pangurn ingested a fentanyl pill and died the next day. A toxicologist determined that fentanyl poisoning had caused his death. 

Pangburn’s mother, Jennifer Ochoa, said her son had previously struggled with drug use but was working to turn his life around when he died.

“He was a happy person at times and he struggled,” Ochoa said. “I won’t downplay it. There’s a stigma about drug users that they take a drug and it’s their fault and they deserve to die, but it’s not [true]. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t ask to die. Unfortunately, he made a choice and the consequences of his choice ended up being death.”

Pangburn, who leaves behind a 4-year-old daughter, had graduated from Alta Loma High School where he played football and was attending classes at Mt. San Antonio College as he worked on improving his future.

He had been messaging Cruz, the man who sold him the deadly narcotics, for a while before he took that fatal dose.

Cruz was arrested on December 27, 2022. While searching his home, Ontario Police discovered nearly 1,500 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, along with three semiautomatic handguns.

Ochoa is speaking out following her son’s death, warning others about the extreme dangers of fentanyl and drug trafficking.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a potentially fatal dose and lab testing indicates that seven out of 10 pills seized from suspects contain a lethal dose.

“Fentanyl, even one pill, it just depends on the potency because they don’t have any way to regulate it because it’s illegal so one pill could have enough fentanyl in it to kill a dozen people,” said Byron Pangburn, the victim’s father. “And that’s one pill. So it varies because there’s no quality control on something that’s made illegally or by cartels.”

Pangburn’s sister, Cecilia Ochoa, said she knows firsthand how painful the consequences of drug use can be.

“A lesson I learned from this is just how precious life truly is,” she said. “Because we all only have one life, when a moment is gone, you can’t get it back. It’s gone forever.”

Ashley Nusser, Pangborn’s partner and mother of his daughter, is devastated and trying to help the young child understand her father’s death. 

“She knows her dad was taken by a very bad man,” Nusser said. “She knows he’s buried in the ground, but we have said that he will always be in your heart.”

On June 28, 2024, Cruz entered a plea deal and was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison and three years of supervised release for the distribution of fentanyl. Cruz also admitted that his products resulted in the death of Pangburn, officials said.

Pangburn, who is an Ontario resident, is survived by his daughter, siblings, parents and friends.

Authorities are investigating after a driver died in a crash involving a deputy in San Bernardino County Saturday.

At around 4 p.m., a deputy from the Apple Valley Police Department responded to a service call while activating emergency lights and sirens.

The deputy was driving westbound on Bear Valley Road. That’s when a driver in a Toyota Corolla, who was turning left into a parking lot, collided with the deputy, officials said.

The collision killed the Toyota driver on impact and left the deputy with minor injuries.

Video from the scene showed both vehicles were left with severe front-end damage. Bystanders were seen surrounding the crash site which was bordered by shopping plazas on both sides.

The Toyota driver was only identified as a male. His name was not released. The injured deputy was transported to the hospital for treatment.

Bear Valley Road was closed to traffic between Kiowa Road and Snapping Turtle for several hours while authorities worked to clear the debris.

The deadly crash remains under investigation.

Anyone with additional information can contact the Apple Valley Police Department at 760-240-7400 or Sheriff’s Dispatch at 760-956-5001.

Anonymous tips can be provided to We-Tip at 1-800-782-7463 or online at wetip.com.

A convicted felon was arrested after pistol-whipping his neighbor and being found in possession of 17 firearms. 

According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, the victim – whose identity has not been released – was riding his dirt bike in front of his residence in the 20100 block of Piedmont Drive in Apple Valley just before 8:45 p.m. on Thursday when he was flagged down by his neighbor. 

The neighbor, identified by deputies as 42-year-old Kenny Lattinville, allegedly pulled out a handgun and pistol-whipped the victim, who left his dirt bike in the roadway and ran back to his home to call 911. 

He sustained “a visible injury consistent with the assault,” SBSD said. 

Responding deputies quickly contacted Lattinville, who was said to be standing in his front yard with a rifle and a handgun yelling towards the victim’s residence, and were able to arrest him without any further incident. 

“A search warrant was authored for Lattinville’s residence…inside the residence, deputies located and seized 17 firearms,” law enforcement officials stated. 

Lattinville, a convicted felon, was booked into the High Desert Detention Center for assault with a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He is being held in lieu of $140,000 bail. 

Anyone who may have information regarding the incident is asked to contact Victor Valley Sheriff’s Station Detective S. Bowman by calling 760-552-6800. 

To submit information anonymously, call 1-800-782-7463 or visit www.wetip.com