ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — A man charged with the death of a 16-year-old girl who died from a fentanyl and alcohol overdose at his Aurora apartment in 2020 was convicted on some counts Tuesday.
Following a six-day trial, Jorge Alexander Che-Quiab was convicted on six of 13 counts:
- Reckless manslaughter
- Sexual assault on a child
- Contributing to the delinquency of a minor
- 2 counts of distribution of a controlled substance to a minor
- 2 counts of possession with intent to distribute
Che-Quiab was not convicted on the most serious charge of murder.
On Aug. 7, 2020, Aurora Police Department (APD) said officers responded to an apartment on South Quentin Way for a possible overdose involving a young girl.
Che-Quiab told officers he arrived back at his apartment around 1 a.m. that morning with several guests including the victim, according to the indictment.
Before arriving he said he stopped to buy a bottle of vodka, and some guests also brought alcohol, the indictment says.
Che-Quiab said he provided cocaine and that the girls in the apartment were "matching coke," the indictment says. Matching refers to a contest where someone will put out an amount of something to be consumed - in this instance drugs - and another person is challenged to match the same amount or add more.
When asked by officers, Che-Quiab said nothing was mixed with the cocaine, according to the indictment.
However, Che-Quiab admitted to selling the victim "four small blue pills" and initially said they were oxycodone, but later said he knew they contained fentanyl, according to the indictment.
He said that at some point the victim's condition "appeared to deteriorate and that she was having trouble walking and standing," the indictment reads.
He was told by someone in the apartment to check on the victim around 9:30 a.m. because she wasn't breathing, the indictment says.
A toxicology report showed the victim died from mixed alcohol and fentanyl toxicity, and showed no presence of cocaine.
During interviews with police, Che-Quiab "did express his regret" that he didn't do anything about the victim, the indictment says. He said she was "Iimp" and said, according to the indictment, that he "should have taken her to the ER" but instead he went to sleep.
A 14-year-old girl who was at the apartment later told investigators that she consumed "approximately a half bottle of hard alcohol" and that she passed out or blacked out at some points, the indictment says. When she woke up, her underwear was off and her pants were on backward, according to the indictment.
Che-Quaib admitted to having sexual intercourse with at least one minor girl at the apartment and, according to the indictment, he said he witnessed another man at the apartment kissing and touching another girl who was passed out.
Che-Quaib's sentencing is scheduled for 3 p.m. on July 21. He faces eight years to life in prison.
Janet Oravetz contributed to the reporting of this story.
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