A spike in severe and fatal opioid overdoses in western Massachusetts this month led an emergency room doctor to alert state police, and three people are now facing charges.
At a press conference in Springfield Wednesday, Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said investigators believe three of the men -- Frank Jimenez, 34, of Springfield; Christopher Fitzpatrick, 23, of Ludlow; and Daniel Moffat, 28, of Ludlow -- sold opioids that caused a string of overdoses in Agawam and Ludlow that led to three deaths over a 10-day period.
Police were also seeking a fourth suspect, Bradley Hoffmeier, 22, of Ludlow.
Staff at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield contacted state police assigned to Gulluni’s office on March 15. That was after treating eight patients suffering from severe opioid overdoses over just two days, said Dr. Gerald Beltran of Baystate Health. One of those patients died.
“At that point, some of the doctors and nurses started compiling statistics and presented that to the department to forward to law enforcement, because we were concerned about the risk to public health,” Beltran said.
Beltran said that at least one patient required 30 doses of naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of an overdose.
Investigators believe a strong presence of fentanyl in the drugs the men allegedly sold could explain the severity of recent overdoses, Gulluni said.
“Additional charges -- at least on some of these individuals -- are very likely, and those will include manslaughter charges for the overdose deaths involved in this investigation,” Gulluni said.
Baystate doesn't normally alert police to opioid overdoses, Beltran said, but the number and severity of the cases led staff to treat the situation as a public health emergency.
