A 17-year-old girl has been charged for her alleged role in the overdose of two 13-year-old boys back in 2016 as well as receiving additional packages of illegal drugs obtained from the dark web. Leslie Thatcher has more.
According to court documents, the female minor is a Park City High School student. She has been charged with four counts of drug distribution – all second-degree felonies, if committed by an adult.
Three of the four counts are for shipments of controlled substances this year – the fourth charge is for her alleged role in obtaining illegal synthetic opioids – known as pink and distributing it in 2016.
According to the charges filed July 20 in Third District juvenile court, on June 18th and June 21st of this year, the United States Customs and Border Protection intercepted two packages addressed to the minor girl at a Park City address. One package contained 11 grams of ecstasy. The 2nd package contained 3 grams of ecstasy. The packages were shipped from overseas.
On July 11th, U.S. Postal Inspectors intercepted a third package sent to the same address. The package contained a controlled substance identified as 2C-B – a substitute for Ecstasy.
Police went to the house where the packages were to be delivered and talked to a resident living there, a man identified as A.S. He told officers that the girl had asked him if she could have some e-cigarette refills sent to his address and he had agreed. A meeting was set up between A.S and the minor girl in order to deliver the packages. At that time, she was arrested.
According to an affidavit, the girl admitted that she was asked by friends to order these items on the dark web. She had used Bitcoin to pay for them. She also admitted that she had learned how to purchase the substances through the dark web from friend who had purchased the drug U-44770, also known as pink, and had it delivered to her house in 2016.
Prosecutors have asked that she be detained in a juvenile facility since she has continued to order controlled substances and presents what they say is an unreasonable risk to public safety.
On July 19th, a day before the charges were filed against the minor girl, the Summit County attorney’s office issued a community alert that controlled substances had been intercepted in the Park City community and involved at least one of the teens who was involved in the 2016 pink overdoses of the then 13-year olds Grant Seaver and Ryan Ainsworth. The alert urged parents to talk to their children about the danger of these substances and to be alert for suspicious packages being received in the mail or from shipping services.
In March, the parents of Grant Seaver filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the parents of four juveniles who were allegedly involved in their son’s death including the 17-year-old girl and the parents of Ryan Ainsworth. The lawsuit claims their son’s death was caused by negligent supervision on the part of other parents.
