FBI Arrests Man Called 'Frog' After Fentanyl — Sold as Cocaine — Kills 4 at Super Bowl Party

A California man known as “Frog” is facing charges on accusations he sold fentanyl disguised as cocaine that left four friends dead at a Super Bowl party.

Frog, whose real name is Timothy Austin Pannell, was arrested on April 25 and is charged with felony distribution of fentanyl, according to an FBI news release. 

On Feb. 11, 2024, a group of five friends gathered at a South Lake Tahoe home to throw a Super Bowl party, according to a statement from the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office. As the evening went on, the friends started to take what they thought was cocaine. By morning, four of them would be dead. 

According to the district attorney’s office, when Pannell allegedly realized he supplied the friend group with fentanyl, he made multiple attempts to warn them. An investigation found that he called them at least 17 times and drove through their neighborhood. 

But he was too late. At about 9 a.m. on Feb. 12, South Lake Tahoe police received a 911 call reporting multiple overdoses at the home. According to reporting from SFGATE, officers found Abraham Lemus 32, Keely Pereira, 33, Clifford Joy, 30, and Adam Joy, 35, all dead from apparent overdoses. 

Two of their bodies were found by the couch, a third was in the kitchen, the fourth was in an upstairs bedroom. A fifth, unnamed person was taken to a nearby hospital and survived, the outlet reported. 

“They were flat-out poisoned and murdered,” Clifford and Adam’s mother Daisy Joy Bankofier told the Record Courier. 

Katrina Joy was there that night, according to the outlet. She’s the wife of Clifford, but didn’t take any supposed cocaine that night. She fell asleep before they bought the drugs and recalled waking up the next morning. 

Katrina told the outlet she attempted CPR on her husband Clifford and instructed the other survivors to do CPR on a different victim and call 911. “I asked him to do CPR on Keely while I did CPR on Cliff,” Katrina said to the outlet. 

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The federal complaint charges Pannell with distribution of fentanyl, the district attorney said in a statement. 

Authorities did not charge Pannell with homicide because they say he believed he was distributing cocaine and made efforts to warn the victims that he accidentally gave them fentanyl when discovering his mistake, prosecutors said in their statement.

“They’re not drug addicts,” Katrina said to the Record Courier. “They’re not even regular users. They just made a bad choice in a moment of wanting to have a little fun with kind of a socially acceptable party drug. Unfortunately this one costs a lot more than most people realize that it can.” 

Pannell is due in court on May 12, according to the outlets.