Man Smuggled Heroin Into Hennepin County Jail: Police

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — A Minneapolis man is accused of smuggling heroin into the Hennepin County Jail and giving it to three inmates. The men overdosed "but did not die thanks to quick action by deputies and nurses," authorities said.

Eugene Olson, 33, was charged with second-degree sale of heroin and second-degree possession of heroin, and a gross misdemeanor of introducing an illegal drug into a jail, according to a news release.

On Sept. 16, while in a court holding area, three inmates overdosed within a half-hour of each other, authorities said.

"The first inmate walked into the booth, with a glass half-wall so he can see and hear the judge, and stood leaning against the glass during his brief hearing," officials said. "At the end of the hearing, he appeared to pass out, sliding slowly down the glass and ending on the floor, unconscious and breathing with difficulty."

Jail medical staff gave him a shot of Narcan, but he required a second shot before he was transported to the hospital, officials said.

While that defendant was still being treated, deputies were called to another cell where an inmate was lying on a bench having seizures, a complaint states. The deputies called for medical staff, and a nurse arrived and put an oxygen mask on him and injected him with Narcan.

He stabilized and was taken to the hospital.

Just before 2 p.m., a third inmate was being escorted from his cell when he told deputies he did not feel well and began vomiting. A nurse was called and treated him.

The second and third inmates both told deputies they thought they were taking Tylenol that they received from another prisoner, according to the complaint.

Descriptions by witnesses led deputies to Olson, and authorities found 6 grams of heroin from his belly button and buttocks, the complaint states.

Olson said the heroin was laced with fentanyl, and the recovered drugs are being tested, according to investigators.

Police say Olson was jailed after failing to appear for a court date on two felony car theft cases in Hennepin County. He also faces a third-degree drug sale charge in St. Louis County.