The 17-year old teen accused of distributing illegal substances that were shipped to a Park City address from over seas has denied the charges in Summit County’s Third District Juvenile Court. Third District Juvenile Judge, Elizabeth Knight commended the teen for complying with her in home detention over the past few weeks and approved her transfer to a residential treatment facility. Carolyn Murray has this:
According to a Deseret News article, US Customs officers along with the Postal Service detected three shipments of synthetic drugs and ecstasy that were mailed to an address in Park City. The police talked to the man living there who said he thought he was allowing the delivery of e-cigarette refills. The teen was arrested later when the man and she met to pass off the packages.
The girl is charged with using bit coin to purchase the drugs through the darknet which according to Wikipedia is a hidden computer network with restricted access that is used chiefly for illegal peer-to-peer file sharing.
Prosecutors say the juvenile is continuing to order controlled substances and they are being delivered into the Park City Community. They claim she presents an unreasonable risk to public safety.
In July, the Park City Police Department issued a public alert outlining arrival of the dangerous substances to local addresses.
KPCW will not reveal the name of the juvenile but she is alleged to be involved in the drug deaths of two Treasure Mountain Junior High School, 8th grade boys in 2016. The boys, Grant Seaver and Ryan Ainsworth overdosed within two days of each other from the synthetic opioid, U-44770 known as Pink. Prosecutors allege the girl received the substances after two other juvenile boys asked her to allow for the drugs to be shipped to her house.
Grant Seaver’s parents filed a wrongful death suit against four of Grants’ friend’s parents who they say are involved in his death. The 17-year old girl who was in court on Friday for separate charges of drug distribution is one of those four friends. The Seavers claim their son’s death was caused by the adult’s negligent supervision and that the girl’s parents had known about the shipments weeks before.
The teen participated in a Ted Talk along with a student panel held earlier in 2018, speaking publicly about her addiction and her struggles to stay clean.
According to the article, attorney Mary Corporon says there is more discovery needed in the case. The girl plead not guilty to three charges of drug distribution in 2018 and one drug distribution charge from 2016. Ms. Corporon was not available to comment. The next court date is October 12th.
