PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Officials say the man charged for allegedly selling fentanyl that caused a deadly mass overdose in McMinnville on Feb. 10 made his first appearance in federal court Tuesday.
The McMinnville Police Department says 28-year-old John Kyle Donnahoo claimed the powdered fentanyl was cocaine when he sold it to a buyer, who was with six others in one residence, for $100. He now faces a charge for the distribution of fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury and death.
According to officials, someone in the group tested the powder twice with fentanyl test kits and “neither test produced a positive result.”
After all seven people overdosed and additional Narcan had to be brought in, police say four were treated with Narcan and brought to the hospital, where one later died. Donnahoo had taken the other three individuals to an intensive care unit to receive treatment, according to police.
Police say that the mass overdose required such a large response from McMinnville’s emergency workers that it tied up responses to other incidents in the area. Paramedics were so overwhelmed by the coinciding incidents that one patient-loaded ambulance had to be driven to the hospital by a McMinnville Police officer.
Another ambulance needed to make two trips from the home to the hospital to deliver all of the patients.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating the case, alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the McMinnville Police Department and the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office.