MCMINNVILLE, Ore. — A McMinnville man has been charged in federal court after he allegedly supplied the drugs that resulted in seven people overdosing at a party earlier this month, one of them fatally.
John Kyle Donnahoo, 28, is charged with a single count of distributing fentanyl resulting in death and serious bodily injury.
According to federal prosecutors, Donnahoo showed up at a house on Feb. 10 to sell an acquaintance and six others $100 of "what was represented to be cocaine." Prosecutors acknowledged that Donahoo told the victims to be careful, because the cocaine might contain fentanyl.
One of the victims used a fentanyl test kit on the drugs twice. The first test was inconclusive, but the second came back negative, "which turned out to be a false result."
"In fact, what the defendant sold was fentanyl," prosecutors allege. Field testing by investigators later returned a presumptive positive test for the opioid.
Seven people at the house used the "cocaine" and all of them overdosed, prosecutors said. According to an affidavit filed by a special agent from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, one of the victims told investigators that Donnahoo stayed while they used the drugs, but it was not clear from the statement whether he used any of it himself.
The victim said that Donnahoo told them that they needed to get to the hospital after several of the victims started showing signs of overdosing. Donnahoo then took three of the victims directly to the hospital in his car, where they were treated and later discharged.
Responding officers and paramedics arrived at the house to find the other four people, treating them with Narcan multiple times before rushing them to the emergency room at Willamette Valley Medical Center in critical condition.
One of the latter four victims was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, and another died. The other two were released later on the same day they'd been admitted.
In the wake of the mass overdose, two of the victims agreed to cooperate with investigators, allegedly identifying Donnahoo as the person who provided the drugs.
Salem police officers arrested Donnahoo on Feb. 27, when he was found inside a home where they were executing an unrelated search warrant, prosecutors said.
Donnahoo is currently in the Multnomah County jail, having been brought to appear at the federal courthouse in Portland. Prosecutors filed a motion requesting that he be detained pending trial.
"Based upon the nature of his crimes he is both a risk of non-appearance at future court proceedings and a danger to the community and should be detained," prosecutors said in a court filing.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more details as they emerge.
