Man connected to South St. Paul overdose cases was convicted in deadly 2013 DWI crash – Twin Cities

Jon Devereaux was drunk when he crashed his friend’s SUV in West St. Paul during a 2013 alcohol-fueled joyride that took the life of a passenger.

Now he is linked to the mass South St. Paul overdose case from this past weekend.

Police found five men — some unresponsive and not breathing — last Saturday after arriving at Devereaux’s South St. Paul home he shares with his mother. A sixth man collapsed while rescue workers were there.

According to an application for a search warrant filed this week in Dakota County District Court, Devereaux, 27, was one of the six who overdosed after ingesting an opioid that could have been mixed with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that people have been adding to heroin, cocaine and other drugs.

In August 2014, Devereaux was sentenced to a year in jail and 10 years of probation after pleading guilty to a count of criminal vehicular homicide and six counts of criminal vehicular operation for the death of Robert Espinoza-Blaeser, 21, of West St. Paul. He was one of seven passengers.

According to the sentencing order, Devereaux could face up to 61 months in jail for violating terms of his probation, which include no drug or alcohol use.

SEARCHING PHONES FOR CLUES

In this week’s search warrant application, a Dakota County Drug Task Force investigator asked a judge for permission for the county’s electronic crimes task force to examine two phones found in the home. The judge granted the request.

The phones belong to Devereaux’s mother, Brenda Devereaux, and Marizio Romo-Garcia, who also overdosed, the court document said.

Brenda Devereaux told the agent that her phone was being used by her son, Jon Devereaux.

The investigator wrote in the search warrant application that he was attempting to “locate the source of the substance that cause (sic) an overdose in six males at one time” and that the phones could contain evidence about what it was and who supplied it.

The investigator also wrote that he spoke with Devereaux while he was still hospitalized at Regions Hospital in St. Paul and that he “stated he does not remember anything from the night of the incident.”

Reached this week, both Jon and Brenda Devereaux declined to comment about the overdoses. Romo-Garcia could not be reached for comment.

The mass overdose put a spotlight on a spate of overdoses across the state from laced drugs. The state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension notes in the past two weeks there have been 175 drug overdoses — 17 of them fatal — among the 89 Minnesota police agencies who take part of the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program.

SHOTS, THEN FATAL CRASH

On Nov. 14, 2013, Devereaux, then 22 and living in West St. Paul, was driving a friend’s Chevrolet Blazer when the SUV rolled over and ejected Espinoza-Blaeser.

According to the criminal charges, Devereaux and the seven passengers — males between the ages of 17 to 22 — had been drinking at a friend’s house before the crash. Passengers said they had downed several shots of liquor in a short time.

Sometime before 2:30 a.m., they left and Devereaux “demanded to drive the vehicle,” according to the charges. After swerving across the road at speeds up to 60 mph, the charges say, Devereaux ran a red light at Robert and Bernard streets. The vehicle rolled over and most of the passengers were thrown out.