Task force arrests suspect in overdose case |

FARIBAULT — A Faribault man, Edward James Climer Jr., has been charged with selling another man heroin, causing a near-deadly drug overdose.

The overdose was the first of two in Faribault Thursday. A second overdose victim, Devin Herrin, 21, was found dead in his Faribault home late Thursday afternoon. While police believe the two cases may be connected, they’ve so far been unable to find a conclusive link.

In the first case, the victim arrived at District One Hospital, unresponsive, not breathing, and with a needle sticking out of one arm, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday morning. Hospital personnel administered the anti-opioid naloxone and were able to revive the patient.

When investigators were able to speak to the victim, he said it was Climer, 37, who sold him the drugs in a city park and explained that Climer bought the heroin from another person just moments before selling it to him and two others.

A short while later, the victim told investigators, he began feeling the effects of the overdose. He was then taken to the hospital.

Agents from the Cannon River Drug and Violent Offenders Task Force suspect that the heroin was cut with fentanyl, creating a potentially lethal combination, said Faribault Police Chief Andy Bohlen. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Climer faces three felonies: providing drugs that cause great bodily harm and two counts of selling heroin.

He’s currently on probation in both Steele and Rice counties, according to state court records. He was convicted in 2017 in Steele County for felony drug possession and in 2015 in Rice County for domestic assault by strangulation.

Herrin’s death marks the third fatal overdose in the area since June. A Faribault man, Jason Madow, was found dead in June, and a Northfield woman died from an overdose in July. Anthony Michael Fugalli, of Faribault, is facing charges in connection with Madow’s death.

Reach Regional Managing Editor Suzanne Rook at 507-333-3134. Follow her on Twitter @rooksuzy.

©Copyright 2019 APG Media of Southern Minnesota. All rights reserved.