Accused fentanyl dealer faces homicide charge after Folsom police make arrest in overdose death

The Folsom Police Department arrested a man late last week after he allegedly furnished fentanyl to a victim who died, and Sacramento County prosecutors have filed homicide charges.

Police officers and firefighters went just after midnight Friday to the 400 block of Sutter Street for a suspected fentanyl overdose, according to a Police Department news release.

A 30-year-old man died at the scene, police said. The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office will identify the victim once family have been notified.

Officers arrested Ruslan Kochkin, 35, of Folsom. Police said they found an ounce of fentanyl and an ounce of methamphetamine while arresting him.

The Police Department said the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office filed homicide charges Tuesday morning against Kochkin, who was arraigned that afternoon.

Kochkin faces charges of homicide and drug possession. His next Sacramento Superior Court date is scheduled for Feb. 15.

The case is the fourth in less than a year in which Folsom detectives “have successfully filed homicide charges against a drug dealer,” according to the news release.

A fentanyl death in Folsom resulted in District Attorney Thien Ho filing Sacramento County’s first murder case stemming from a fentanyl-related death, according to The Sacramento Bee’s previous reporting. Ronald James Ehman, 44, was charged Aug. 1 in the July death of Mary Milagro Siryi, 24.