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Warrants provide new information about synthetic opioid investigation in Park City

Posted at 3:02 PM, Oct 03, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-04 00:03:49-04

PARK CITY, Utah — A pair of search warrants unsealed Monday provide new details about the alleged acquisition and distribution of a synthetic opioid by three juveniles in Park City.

According to the documents, one of the juveniles told police she was approached by the other two about receiving packages by mail at her home. The girl said she watched one of the other juveniles order a substance online, and she later received a package from Shangha, China which contained a white powder substance in a clear bag, the warrants said.

The girl told police she then gave the substance to the other juveniles and personally witnessed one of them distributing it to two of his friends, the warrants state.

Police interviewed a therapist who had been visited by one of the juveniles, who said the juvenile had identified the substance as the opioid analog called U-47700, according to one of the documents.

The warrants authorized police to search a Heber City home and a Park City home for evidence in the case.  Police seized a laptop computer from the Heber City home and three laptops, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, two smartphones and two portable music players from the Park City home.

U-47700, known by the street names "pink" and "pinkie," has been a factor in an increasing number of overdoses nationwide, according to Dr. Paula Cook of the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute in Addictive Medicine.

Last month, two students at Park City's Treasure Mountain Jr. High School were found dead. The cause of death wasn't released, but police said they felt strongly about warning parents about U-47700.