SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment today against Timothy Austin Pannell, 32, of South Lake Tahoe, charging him with distribution of fentanyl causing death, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.
Pannell was arrested by the FBI at his home in South Lake Tahoe on April 25, 2025.
On the morning of Feb. 12, 2024, South Lake Tahoe Police Department responded to a 911 call reporting multiple overdoses at a residence on Roger Avenue in South Lake Tahoe. First responders arrived and found four individuals deceased in the residence. A fifth victim survived the overdose.
It is alleged that two of the men found deceased that morning had met with Pannell, a.k.a. “Frog,” the night before, following a Super Bowl party, in the parking lot of a church in South Lake Tahoe. There, Pannell sold them fentanyl that he represented as cocaine. The two men returned to the residence, where they shared what they believed to be cocaine with three others at the house. Found deceased in the home were local residents Abraham Lemus (34), Adam Joy (35), Keely Pereira (33), and Douglas County, Nev. resident Clifford Joy (38).
This case is the product of an investigation by the FBI, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, and the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Conolly is prosecuting the case.
Pannell is currently in federal custody, pending trial. He had been transported to Sacramento after his arrest in South Lake Tahoe.
If convicted, Pannell faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $1 million fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.