Medical personnel from the L.A. County Fire Department and deputies from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station responded to a possible fatal overdose Thursday, which is now part of an investigation by the Sheriff’s Department Narcotics Bureau.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the decedent as Daniel Liam Prutting, 43, a Santa Clarita resident whose listed occupation was personal trainer; but he also had several previous run-ins with station officials over allegations of narcotics sales in the area.
The station received a call at 12:20 p.m. Thursday, from someone who identified themselves as a friend of Prutting’s, who said Prutting was overdosing in a vehicle in the 23000 block of Avenida Velarte, about one mile from Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, according to Sgt. Jerome Gage of the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
Deputies arrived on the scene at 12:24 p.m., he said, which was the same time the L.A. County Fire Department reported receiving a call.
Fire officials arrived at 12:31 p.m., according to Kaitlyn Aldana, a press information officer for L.A. County Fire Department. The Medical Examiner’s Office indicated Prutting was declared deceased on the street.
Records from a previous Narcotics Bureau investigation indicated that, in July, station deputies found Prutting slumped over the steering wheel of his Porsche in the 23400 block of Lyons Avenue.
Detectives investigating the circumstances of his July overdose searched the vehicle and found many different types of narcotics and pharmaceuticals that required prescriptions, according to the affidavit to support the search of his car.
The contents listed in the search-warrant return included more than 300 “M-30” pills, which are defined by the Drug Enforcement Administration as “exponentially more potent than prescription painkillers”; methamphetamine; cocaine; a small baggie of “black tar heroin”; MDMA; Xanax; pill bottle of cocaine, Xanax and oxycodone; two vials of testosterone cypionate; two vials of a suspected semiglutide (the GLP-1 hormone used to regulate blood sugar, suppress appetite and slow digestion); and six vials of equipoise, an anabolic-androgenic steroid primarily used in veterinary medicine to promote muscle growth, appetite and weight gain in horses, among others. He also had more than $5,000 in cash on him.
He was arrested on suspicion of drug-possession charges, and later charged by the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office with possession of a narcotic with a prior, to which he pleaded no contest on Aug. 10.
He was scheduled to surrender to the court Tuesday for his sentencing on those charges.
He had another pending case at the Antelope Valley Courthouse for a Sept. 24 arrest on narcotics possession charges, with an allegation that he had two prior convictions and that the offense was committed while the defendant was on bail.
The incident is being investigated by Sgt. Durand of the Narcotics Bureau, whose first name was not immediately available.
Anyone with information about this incident can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Narcotics Bureau at 562-946-7125. If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477), use your smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP on Google play or the Apple App Store or by using the website lacrimestoppers.org.
