A federal grand jury in Seattle has indicted a Whatcom County man on a charge of distributing fentanyl in a case tied to a homicide investigation on the Lummi Nation Indian Reservation, according to court records.
The indictment charges Stephan A. Charlot with knowingly and intentionally distributing fentanyl on or about May 24, 2025, in Whatcom County.
The charge was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
According to a criminal complaint filed earlier in the case, the federal charge stems from an investigation into the death of a woman who was found unresponsive inside a Bellingham-area home within the Lummi Nation Indian Reservation.
Lummi Nation Police responded just after midnight on May 25, 2025, and the woman was pronounced dead shortly after first responders arrived.
Investigators said evidence recovered from the bedroom included foil, a straw, a lockbox and multiple doses of Narcan.
Messages found on the woman’s phone showed discussions about obtaining fentanyl shortly before her death, according to the complaint.
A witness told investigators he purchased about $20 worth of fentanyl from Charlot earlier that night and later shared it with the woman, the complaint states.
The witness identified Charlot as the source of the drug through Facebook Messenger and later confirmed his identity from a photograph.
An autopsy later determined the woman’s cause of death was acute combined fentanyl and methadone intoxication.
The manner of death was ruled an accident, according to the complaint.
A forensic toxicologist was unable to determine whether fentanyl, methadone, or a combination of both caused the death.
Court records show Charlot was arrested by Lummi Nation Police in June 2025 on tribal charges of homicide and delivery of an illegal substance.
The federal indictment replaces the earlier criminal complaint and formally advances the case to a grand jury.
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