A variety of pills
A variety of pills with different medications. Photo via Pixabay

Two Santee residents were behind bars Wednesday for allegedly supplying fentanyl to homeless people in El Cajon, either by selling the drug to them outright or bartering it for stolen property.

Samantha Nicole Ekiss, 32, and her roommate, 44-year-old Jeremy Wayne Ketchum, were arrested Monday following a two-month investigation, according to the El Cajon Police Department. They were booked into county jail on suspicion of narcotics crimes, weapons offenses and organized retail theft.

During a search of the pair’s residence and a self-storage unit rented by Ketchum, officers found about three-quarters of a pound of fentanyl, a half-ounce of methamphetamine, suspected stolen property, several thousand dollars in cash and hundreds of rounds of illegally possessed ammunition, ECPD Lt. Will Guerin said.

Three months ago, Ekiss was jailed on suspicion of possessing fentanyl for sale and was released on bond pending court proceedings.