CLAIM: Roadside workers in various parts of the U.S. have been sickened or killed by fentanyl-laced water offered to them by a passerby while on the job.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Officials in the areas cited say they are unaware of any reports of such incidents.
THE FACTS: The synthetic opioid fentanyl is no doubt dangerous and has driven overdose deaths in the U.S.
But the drug has also been the subject of dubious claims online. Some have made baseless claims about roses laced with the drug being used to lure individuals into sex trafficking. Others have stoked fears about Halloween candy by misrepresenting the facts about a drug bust.
In recent days, a range of social media posts have aired a rumor that roadside workers in different parts of the U.S. have been poisoned by water laced with fentanyl.
“We were just alerted that a random person stopped by work zones in CT yesterday and offered employees free water,” reads one Facebook post. “The water was laced with fentanyl. We were told that there was 1 fatality, and another employee is in the intensive care unit in the hospital.”
But Connecticut State Police said in a statement that they “have not received or investigated any reports of this nature.”
Likewise, the Connecticut Department of Transportation was made aware of the claim and “took it seriously,” said Kafi Rouse, a spokesperson for the department.
“However, we have since confirmed that this laced water announcement is a hoax,” she said.
Details of the claim in Connecticut mirror those shared in other parts of the U.S.
Some social media users have shared a photo of a “safety alert” letter from a pipeline contractor that claimed that two flaggers in the Chicago suburbs “were offered bottles of water by an unknown individual in a passing car. Sadly, one of the flaggers lost their life, and the other flagger is currently in critical condition.”
“After conducting an investigation, it is suspected that the water provided to the flaggers was laced with fentanyl, a potent and dangerous opioid,” the July 20 notice written on letterhead from Precision Pipeline in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, continues.
A Precision Pipeline representative did not immediately return a request for comment from The Associated Press.
The letter, however, claimed the employees in question worked for “NPL Pipeline Company” — seemingly a reference to a company called NPL Construction, which has locations in the Chicago area and constructs natural gas and energy infrastructure. And NPL Construction posted a statement online disputing that its employees experienced what the letter described.
“We are aware of a false report stating NPL employees were harmed after drinking drug-laced water offered to them by a member of the public,” NPL said. “This information is entirely false. No NPL employees have been involved in any incident of this nature anywhere throughout the country.”
Some posts also referenced an alert issued by San Diego Gas & Electric Company describing an identical incident and saying the two employees worked for a “local flagging contractor.”
Candace Hadley, a SDG&E spokesperson, told the AP that the utility received the information from a trusted source and “shared it out of an abundance of caution.” But SDG&E issued a subsequent, updated notification, she said, after the source could not corroborate the information.
“Regardless of whether this is true or not, the safety message is the same: We want our crews to stay safe,” she said.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
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