This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A 17-year-old Moab boy has been referred to juvenile court for allegedly giving a mixture of drugs — including the dangerous designer drug Clonazolam — to two friends who survived March overdoses.
On March 26, Grand County sheriff's deputies were called to a local hospital regarding the overdose cases of two men in their early 20s who were in critical condition — one who was unresponsive and the other who was in and out of consciousness with a heart arrhythmia, according to a search warrant affidavit.
The investigation led officers to the 17-year-old, who had told doctors trying to treat the victims that Clonazolam could be one of the drugs involved, the affidavit states.
The teen "knew that Clonazolam was the drug in question before ever arriving at the hospital," the affidavit states, noting that Clonazolam "has not been produced in quantity since the 1970s as its side effects were horrendous."
The teen later told a sheriff's investigator that in addition to Clonazolam, the mixture contained mushrooms, ecstacy and speed, the affidavit states.
A friend of the 17-year-old told investigators that the teen "had used a small amount of the drug himself in the past and had such a bad reaction that he refused to do it again," the affidavit states, adding: "[The teen] was so afraid of this drug that he refused to use it again but allowed his friends to do it, putting them in danger."
Grand County Sheriff's t. Kim Neal said Monday that the teen was referred to juvenile court on charges of drug distribution, evidence tampering, and two counts of reckless endangerment.
No sign of the drug was found at the teen's home during the execution of the search warrant on March 27.
"It got destroyed somehow," Neal said.
Asked how the teen got the drug, Neal replied: "Good question. Some people have thrown out [that it might have been obtained through] the dark web, but we really don't now."
The so-called dark web is an obscure part of the Internet where drug trafficking and other illegal activities can take place with a smaller chance of detection.
The Moab episode is reminiscent of a case in Park City last year where two 13-year-old boys died after ingesting a drug called "pink," which had been obtained by another boy over the Internet from China..
The Tribune generally does not identify juveniles charged with crimes unless they have been certified to adult court.