SALT LAKE CITY — A Weber County man who sold fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills that led to another man’s death will spend more than 10 years behind bars.
A federal judge sentenced Adam Patrick Hemmelgarn, 38, of Hooper, to 128 months in prison followed by three years’ probation Wednesday. Hemmelgarn earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Prosecutors dropped three other charges against him. Hemmelgarn also agreed to pay $15,100 to cover funeral expenses for the man who died.
Hemmelgarn admitted that he sold Tyrell Perry fake oxycodone pills on March 11, 2018. Perry distributed the pills to several others, including Jaydon Rogers. Perry, 20, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and will be sentenced in November.
Rogers was found unresponsive in his West Haven, Weber County, home on March 12, 2018, and died in a hospital two days later, federal authorities said.
A Weber County deputy who responded to the house on a “medical assist” noticed a pill on the floor that he suspected might have been part of an overdose. A lab test of the pill came back positive for fentanyl.
Weber County detectives and federal agents launched an investigation over the next few months that led them to Hemmelgarn.
Rogers was a state wrestling champion at Fremont High School in 2014 and earned junior college All-America honors at Western Wyoming Community College, according to an online obituary. He had been an assistant wrestling coach at Fremont High since returning home from college.