A Minnesota woman has been charged with murder and manslaughter after she allegedly sold fentanyl to a man who overdosed in March and died.
43-year-old Yashica Shenay Thomas made her first appearance Thursday in Mower County District Court on charges of third-degree murder by drugs and second-degree manslaughter.
Thomas also faces felony drug possession and sales charges stemming from the alleged drug sale and what police found in a search of her apartment earlier this week.
Her bail was set at $250,000 with conditions. Her next court appearance is Sept. 15.
According to court records, the 22-year-old unidentified Austin man’s mother and siblings unsuccessfully tried to revive him with Narcan after they found him slumped over in a bathroom the evening of March 8.
An autopsy showed he died due to acute toxic effects from fentanyl.
The man’s family told police he often went to apartments in the 300 block of 27th St. SW to buy fentanyl, heroin and other drugs. Police found messages on his phone sent the day before his death from a potential source directing him to buy fentanyl from Thomas.
Austin police searched Thomas’s apartment Tuesday and found more than 300 grams of marijuana, 17 grams of methamphetamine and tin foil folds suspected to carry fentanyl among other drug paraphernalia, including a digital scale, according to charges.
Thomas told police that she and the man had set up the drug sale via Facebook on March 8 and that he bought about 0.17 grams of fentanyl for $50, according to court documents.
She also said the man planned to return to buy more of the drug, the charges stated.
Tell us your thoughts...