A man who died of a fatal heroin overdose met his dealer through a popular online news site and discussion board, according to court records filed in Hennepin County.
Two men have been charged with murder after police say they found Andrew Logan Jennings, 23, dead of a heroin overdose in his St. Louis Park apartment on May 23.
After reviewing Jennings' iPhone, they found that he had a conversation with Zachary Gontard, whom he met on a Reddit message board called "opiaterollcall," according to search warrants filed in Hennepin County.
Reddit appears to have shut down the "opiaterollcall" board. However, another Reddit board is running that appears to function as a communication between dealers and users.
Reddit did not respond to a request for comment.
After seeing a post from Jennings on the "opiaterollcall" board, a username connected to Gontard posted, "I can help in 612. I'm easy," according to the court records.
That user sent a message to Jennings, asking "are you the Reddit person"?
"Yes," replied Jennings, who asked if he could purchase heroin.
They agreed to meet at a north Minneapolis restaurant, where surveillance video captured the two of them together.
The video also showed that Gontard met with another man, Pierre Cooley, who is accused of handing heroin to Jennings for him to sell.
Police searched Gontard's Reddit account, which showed that he acted as a middle man to buy heroin for several others, according to the criminal complaint.
Both Gontard, 37, and Cooley, 28, have been charged with 3rd degree murder.
According to the criminal complaints, Gontard denied to police that he knew Jennings and Cooley, but then later said he only knew Cooley as "Bird."
Brandon Stahl • 612-673-4626
