NEW YORK – A 24-year-old drug dealer who sold the drug “Molly” to a concert-goer who died as a result plead guilty to conspiring to distribution of narcotics, said officials.
Patrick Morgan was arrested in July and charged with selling “Molly,” which is a combination of the drug “Ectasy” and “Methylone,”to three people including Jeffrey Russ at an electronic dance music concert in 2013 in New York, officials said.
Russ died at a Harlem Hospital from acute intoxication by drug overdose with hyperthermia. Hyperthermia means his body heat was way above normal, officials said.
“With today’s guilty plea, Patrick Morgan now stands convicted of conspiring to distribute the drug Molly, which led to the tragic death of Jeffery Russ,”Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said ” This Office remains committed to aggressively pursuing and prosecuting those who peddle this extremely dangerous drug.”
Morgan is facing up to 20 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced in March.
Acoording to federal prosecutors and evidence this are the facts and circumstances surrounding this case.
In mid-August 2013, Morgan sold one of the three people about 80 Molly pills that Morgan understood the three would take and distribute at an Electric Zoo concert.
The three including Russ intended to take and distribute these Molly pills at the Electric Zoo music festival. Electric Zoo was a three-day, outdoor electronic dance music festival on Randall’s Island, New York, scheduled to be held from August 30, 2013, through September 1, 2013.
Attendance at Electric Zoo was estimated to be over 130,000 people.
Toward the end of the concert, Russ collapsed and had a seizure. Russ was treated by emergency medical technicians on Randall’s Island and ultimately taken to Harlem Hospital.
When Russ arrived at Harlem Hospital, he was unresponsive. On August 31, 2013, at approximately 3:21 a.m., Russ died, officials said.