LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lucerne man arrested last week for Lake County’s first charged fentanyl homicide case was in court on Monday afternoon, pleading not guilty to killing a teenager in November.

Joe Nathan Boggs Jr., 27, made his first appearance for the death of 17-year-old Illeanna Makena Frease of Lakeport before Judge Andrew Blum.

Boggs was arrested on Friday morning following a seven-month-long investigation that concluded he was responsible for killing Frease on Nov. 10 through furnishing fentanyl, a dangerous drug that has led to an epidemic of deaths nationwide.

On Thursday, the day before his arrest, the District Attorney’s Office filed four felony counts against Boggs: second-degree murder; an adult using a minor as an agent to violate controlled substance law; sale, distribution or transportation of a controlled substance; and possession for sale of a controlled substance.

After Boggs indicated he could not afford an attorney and wanted one appointed, Judge Blum appointed Senior Public Defender Tom Quinn to be Boggs’ attorney.

Quinn then promptly entered not guilty pleas to all charges and special allegations on Boggs’ behalf.

Noting that he had spoken to Boggs on Sunday night for about an hour, Quinn told the court that Boggs would not waive time to a speedy trial, which requires that his preliminary hearing be set quickly.

Blum set that hearing for 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, June 26.

He also set Boggs’ bail at $1 million, keeping it at the level it was set at when Boggs was arrested last week. An additional $1,000 bail was put in place for a misdemeanor drug case Boggs also is facing.

Quinn asked that a bail review take place during the preliminary hearing on June 26.

In a Friday Facebook post, Frease’s mother, Michaela John, said Boggs had trafficked her daughter and poisoned her to death, calling him a “drug trafficking, predatory murderer.”

The family also approved the Lake County Sheriff’s Office releasing Frease’s name as part of the Friday statement on Boggs’ arrest.

Frease’s family members came to court on Monday prepared to make sure Frease isn’t forgotten in the judicial process.

Five of them wore red t-shirts with Frease’s picture on them. Red has become increasingly associated with the movement to bring attention to another epidemic — that of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, or MMIP.

Frease was a member of the Elem Colony of Pomo. Boggs also is Indigenous. John said in her Facebook post that Boggs — who has a lengthy criminal record — “operated both on and off tribal lands openly, with no regard for the damage he was causing. Without accountability.”

As the Monday afternoon hearing ended, one of the women wearing a red t-shirt with Frease’s picture stood and called out to Boggs loudly from the courtroom gallery.

“See her face,” she said. “You see what you did?”

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.