Man Had Enough Fentanyl To Kill 1/5 Of Minnesota: Police

BLOOMINGTON, MN — Bloomington police arrested a man carrying enough fentanyl pills to kill 1/5 of the state's total population, or over a million people, according to Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges.

Marcus Trice, of Seattle, faces a first-degree drug charge (50 grams or more) and a financial transaction fraud charge in Hennepin County.

On Aug. 31, police found more than 108,000 pills in Trice's suitcase, nearing 11,000 grams, according to authorities. Trice's arrest is likely the largest recorded fentanyl seizure in the Midwest, Hodges said at a news conference Thursday.

State prosecutors say they plan to ask for a higher-than-normal sentence in this case "because the quantity of drugs involved is significantly larger than the minimum threshold for the offense."

If convicted in state court, Trice faces up to 40 years in prison.

Bloomington police shared their investigation with federal authorities, and Trice now also faces a federal drug charge.

"This is enough pills to give every person in the city of Bloomington one. Everybody staying in the hotels. And still, some left over for the people living in Richfield and Edina," Hodges said.

On Aug. 31, Bloomington police responded to a report of suspected fraud at a hotel. Trice checked into the hotel under someone else's name and credit card, according to the criminal complaint.

Police arrested Trice and found 11 pill bottles wrapped in clothing inside his suitcase, authorities said. The bottles all contained "M-Box 30" pills of counterfeit oxycodone, otherwise known as fentanyl, according to the criminal complaint.

Without packaging, all of the pills combined weighed 10,894 grams, according to authorities.

According to state health officials, a record 1,286 people died in Minnesota from a drug overdose in 2021, including 834 people who died specifically from a fentanyl overdose.

Hodges said a record 12 people so far this year have died in Bloomington from a drug overdose.