A 25-year-old man overdosed in a car on a potent narcotic patch he bought from a friend's father, then was driven to his mother's house near Duluth and died outside in the back seat, according to murder charges.
Robert T. Ferguson, 51, of Cloquet, Minn., was charged in Carlton County District Court with third-degree murder for allegedly selling a Fentanyl patch. He remains jailed ahead of a court appearance Wednesday.
Paul D. Mrosla, of Carlton, died Jan. 15 when his lungs filled with blood while overdosing on the high-powered painkiller, according to the St. Louis County medical examiner's office.
According to the criminal complaint:
Police and sheriff's deputies arrived at a home in Carlton and found Mrosla unconscious in the back seat of a car. Efforts to revive him failed, and he was declared dead at the scene.
Investigators determined that Mrosla had been out that evening with friends Mark A. Brenner, 25, of Cloquet, and Ferguson's 20-year-old daughter, Charity.
Charity Ferguson brought Mrosla and Brenner to her father's home, where the two men bought from Robert Ferguson a Fentanyl patch that had been prescribed to him.
Soon after leaving Robert Ferguson's home, Mrosla started overdosing. Brenner and Charity Ferguson drove to the home of Mrosla's mother. Mrosla was soon dead.
