Clay County Attorney says he has never seen fentanyl case like this

Brian Melton speaks on the ongoing investigation into a middle school student arrested for having 1,500 fentanyl pills

MOORHEAD, Minn. (KVRR) — “It’s a pretty atypical case to kind of see that kind of volume in that young person’s hands and in a school. I mean, those are those things that you just look at that’s not usual, and I would not expect to see that happen,” said Brian Melton, Clay County Attorney.

On Thursday, a 13-year-old boy at Horizon Middle School was arrested for first-degree possession of a controlled substance. What police discovered were 1,500 blue fentanyl pills.

“I mean, all I can say about it is it’s extremely unfortunate. You hate to see a young person that young of an age already that deeply involved in the drug area that kind of thing,” said Melton.

The drugs have a street value of $35,000. Moorhead Public School officials say the student will be faced with “appropriate disciplinary action”, which may include expulsion. Melton says that because the defendant is a minor, the student’s name and details about the criminal investigation cannot be released.

“With any juvenile case, you know the reason that we treat juveniles as juveniles is because they are younger people. We try to ensure that they understand their wrongdoing doesn’t fit in with society, but they don’t have that same amount of impact to their life. You’re trying to get them back on the right track,” said Melton.

Melton says the quick response of school officials and law enforcement shows that overall, Moorhead schools and the community are safe.

“I would hope most parents or other people would take away that they know that the community is strong, that they’re doing the right thing, the schools are doing the right things to keep kids safe in schools, keep drugs out of the schools,” said Melton.

This case is one of the largest drug cases Melton has prosecuted in his long time career. And with President Trump’s declaration that fentanyl is a weapon of mass destruction, Melton believes this will bring more awareness to the issue.

“Fentanyl is really a killer. Largely, people that take it end up overdosing. They have a large chance that they’ll be dead, they’ll die from that.”

While we don’t know where the drugs came from in this particular case, typically, Melton says many come from the Twin Cities.

“A lot of the dealers that we see here are making numerous trips down to Minneapolis. That they’re getting supply, resupply. That we’re tracking them till the point when we’re ready to arrest them.”

Melton has declined to say if anyone else is facing charges in connection to the case.