Mankato Man Arrested In Connection With Northfield OD’s*

On Friday a Mankato man was charged in Blue Earth County Court with two felonies. Joshua Chlan, 19, and a student at Minnesota State University-Mankato is suspected of supplying the carfentanil that caused three overdoses in Northfield last month.

Carfentanil is an “extremely dangerous” synthetic opioid that's 10,000 times more potent than morphinel. Police aren't positive that they have removed all of the tainted drugs in the area and warn that carfentanil might still be circulating in the area disguised as other drugs.

Chlan reportedly obtained the carfetanil on the darknet. There were a total of three overdoses over a three day span in Northfield. Two overdoses occurred in Northfield on Feb. 23 and another on Feb. 25. The victims were revived with larger than normal doses of naloxone/Narcan.

All three victims took counterfeit oxycodone pills. Testing by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension last week revealed the pills actually contained carfentanil and cocaine. According to the Mankato Free Press 22 year old, Joshua Tarka, of Northfield admitted to selling the counterfeit pills to the people who overdosed. He is now charged with several felonies in Rice County District Court. According to the criminal complaint filed by the Rice County Attorney Tarka denied selling the tainted pills.**

Source: Mankato Free Press

*This article was editted at 5:30pm 3/5/17 to show the source from which some information was found.
**This article was editted at 6:39am 3/6/17 to indicate the Rice County Criminal Complaint.