Counterfeit Fentanyl Pill Killed Young Man In Utah – Three Men Charged

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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a federal grand jury issued a four-count superseding indictment against three Utah men concerning a 22-year-old man’s death from a counterfeit pill made with fentanyl. One-count each of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and distribution of cyclopropyl fentanyl was filed against Adam Patrick Hemmelgarn, Tyrell Jabbar Perry, and Christian Scott Jimerson. Hemmelgarn had additional charges of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and felon in possession of a firearm filed against him.

On March 12, 2018, emergency services were called to a residence in West Haven to assist with an unresponsive individual only identified in the indictment as “J.R.” He was taken to the hospital where he died two days later. Family members of “J.R.” asked that his name, Jaydon Rogers, be released to the public. According to KSL, Rogers attended Fremont High School where he was a state wrestling champion in 2014. He earned junior college All-American honors at Western Wyoming Community College. Since returning to Utah, he was an assistant wrestling coach at Fremont High School.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney John Huber spoke of the pain being inflicted across the country by the opioid crisis and how it is everyone’s responsibility to help end it. "Within that space, surely the drug dealers and providers have culpability. Our efforts, like those in other federal districts, will track back from an overdose death to find those responsible for providing the drugs that led to the death." This case was the result of the combined efforts of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Weber County Sheriff’s Office, and the Davis County Metro Narcotics Task Force.