Teen charged in Green Valley Ranch arson case caught with suspected fentanyl pills in jail, police say
One of the teenagers charged in connection with the 2020 Denver house fire that killed five members of a family now faces new charges after being caught with what law enforcement believes were fentanyl-laced pills while in jail awaiting trial.
Kevin Bui was discovered hiding two bags containing nearly 100 pills in his socks and pants on June 4, according to a probable cause statement. Employees of the Denver Sheriff Department found the bags when they received a report of an overdose in an eight-person cell in the detention center. The probable cause statement doesn’t specify who overdosed.
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Bui, now 18, faces five charges of first-degree murder and dozens more counts based on accusations of setting the deadly house fire in August 2020. Prosecutors referenced the new drug charges Thursday morning during a scheduled arraignment hearing for the arson case, which has been rescheduled for July 28.
Prosecutors filed four charges against Bui in the new case: Drug possession with intent to manufacture or distribute, second-degree contraband possession, tampering with evidence and drug possession. A hearing has been set for Aug. 8.
Later this month, Bui will enter his plea of guilty or not guilty in the arson case. Attorneys indicated at Thursday’s hearing that potential plea negotiations have been ongoing, but prosecutors said they have not made any formal offer and that the new case has complicated negotiations.
The house fire two years ago killed five members of a Senegalese family, sparking fear in the local West African community before police made arrests about whether the fire was a targeted hate crime. However, information from a preliminary hearing last fall revealed Bui and two other teenagers set the fire intending to exact revenge for a robbery Bui had been the victim of a few weeks earlier. But the person who robbed Bui did not live in the house that was set on fire.
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Bui faces charges along with Gavin Seymour, now 17, and a third teenager who has been charged as a juvenile. Seymour’s case has a motions hearing scheduled for Aug. 19. Bui’s attorneys have argued that he did not intend to kill anyone when he and his co-defendants planned to set the fire.