Man in Monroe County jail faces new charge in June fentanyl death

Based on an autopsy report from the Monroe County coroner on Wednesday (Aug. 6), about a drug overdose death of a 34-year-old woman on June 18, Bloomington police detectives took steps to add a charge to a prisoner already in the Monroe County jail—dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death. It’s a level 1 felony.

That’s according to a news release from Bloomington police on Friday.

According to the news release, the official cause of death in the coroner’s report was determined to be acetyl fentanyl and fentanyl toxicity,

The man who was charged with dealing drugs that caused death is alleged to have sold the narcotics to another man and his girlfriend, who used the drugs on the night of June 17 at a residence on the 3300 block of South Odell Drive, which is on the south side of Bloomington.

On the morning of June 18, the boyfriend of the woman called 911, after he found his girlfriend unresponsive and not breathing. The news release says the man told officers that the woman had been smoking heroin the previous night. He also told officers that the man who sold the drugs to him and his girlfriend was at the same residence using drugs, but had left when he was told that 911 was being called.

The man who is alleged to have sold the drugs to the couple was identified as Seth G. Svenson (46). He was located on June 25 and arrested on a warrant stemming from a separate investigation. Once the coroner’s report was received on Wednesday, with the cause of the woman’s death due to fentanyl, police moved to add the new charge to those already faced by Svenson.