Guilty Plea in Rochester Fentanyl Case – 550 Pills Seized

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Rochester man has entered a guilty plea in a drug case involving hundreds of fentanyl pills.

Court documents filed in Olmsted County Court say Rochester police responded to a medical call in May of last year and found a man unconscious in a running pickup truck parked in a large commercial parking lot in the 3700 block of North Broadway. The driver, later identified as 25-year-old Jack Ryan Farrell, was awakened by an officer and was arrested on suspicion of impaired driving.

According to the criminal complaint, Farrell had overdosed on fentanyl earlier in the year. The document says the officers at the scene discovered he was in possession of two dollar bills with a white powder residue and a fentanyl pill.

The charges state the officers then conducted a search of the vehicle and discovered a baggie containing nearly 550 full and partial pills that tested positive for fentanyl. They also located $326 in cash on the front seat of the vehicle.

Court documents say Farrell was later interviewed by police and claimed the pills were for personal use, but also described himself as a "middleman" in the drug trade and indicated he was waiting in the parking lot to meet a friend.

Farrell was charged with first-degree drug sales and first-degree drug possession. Under the terms of his plea deal, he admitted to the drug possession charge in exchange for the dismissal of the drug sales count and the charges contained in a separate criminal complaint.

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The plea agreement document indicates his conviction calls for a presumptive prison term of between 65-78 months under state sentencing guidelines. It says Farrell will be released from custody in order to enter into a drug treatment program and return to court in 6 to 8 months for sentencing, during which he will argue for a downward departure from sentencing guidelines.