Hopkins Man Sold Drugs Online, Resulting In 11 Deaths: Federal Jury

HOPKINS, MN — A federal jury Thursday convicted a Hopkins man of distributing fentanyl that caused the deaths of eleven people and seriously injured four others. The drug transactions were made on his website, "PlantFoodUSA.net," authorities said.

Following a 10-day trial, Aaron R. Broussard, 31, was convicted on 17 counts of various drug crimes. Brossard's sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

"Aaron Broussard was a black-market drug dealer," said U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

"Concerned only with his profits, Broussard sold illegal, dangerous drugs over the internet. The defendant’s deadly fentanyl killed eleven young, healthy, and vibrant victims, and caused serious bodily harm to at least four others."

From 2014 through 2016, Broussard bought illegal drugs smuggled from China and sold them on his website, according to authorities. He then mailed his drugs using the United States Postal Service, investigators said.

In March 2016, Broussard placed a drug order for 100 grams of 4-FA, a controlled substance analogue, which was shipped from China, according to authorities. However, the package actually contained 100 grams of 99 percent pure fentanyl, investigators said.

Broussard — who experienced similar mixups before — did not test his drugs before giving them to customers, according to authorities.

Broussard sent the fentanyl to more than a dozen customers throughout the United States who had actually ordered an amphetamine analogue, a drug similar to Adderall, investigators said. The customers were not opiate users and had no tolerance for fentanyl.

After ingesting the fentanyl, believing it was Adderall, eleven of the customers died from a fentanyl overdose, and at least four customers suffered serious injuries.

Though Broussard found out that several of his customers had been hospitalized and nearly died, he never warned his other customers, according to authorities.

However, Broussard did reach out to his suppliers in China and asked for a discount on his next drug delivery, investigators said