WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com
A 29-year-old Whatcom County man was arraigned Thursday on an indictment for distributing fentanyl on Lummi Nation tribal land, which allegedly contributed to a fatal overdose.
On June 21, 2025, Lummi Nation Police arrested Stephan Charlot after the fatal fentanyl overdose by another Lummi Nation member on May 25, 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
Charlot pleaded not guilty in federal court today and is scheduled for trial in front of U.S. District Judge Kymberly K. Evanson on April 6.
Lummi Nation child held mother as she died, court records reveal
Just after midnight, emergency responders were called to a home on the Lummi Nation in Bellingham, where they found an adult woman unresponsive, according to records filed in the case. Despite life-saving efforts, the woman could not be revived.
The investigation alleged that Charlot supplied the fentanyl that the woman had ingested. In the room, burned foil paper and Narcan doses were found near the woman.
A short time later, the woman’s young child was forensically interviewed and described how her mother had begun to shake, and asked her daughter to “hold her.” While the child was holding her, she eventually stopped shaking, and the child believed that this was when her mother had died.
Records on the woman’s phone led law enforcement to the person who had purchased the fentanyl from Charlot. The buyer brought it to the woman’s residence, where two of them used the fentanyl together.
A review of the cell phone evidence revealed to investigators that this was not the first time that Charlot had sold fentanyl.
On Feb. 3, Charlot was taken into custody and ordered detained due to multiple prior tribal charges for distributing narcotics and multiple warrants for failing to appear in court.
Charlot has been in tribal custody since his arrest last year and was indicted by a grand jury on Feb. 4.
The DOJ noted the charges contained in the indictment are only allegations, and a person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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