Man gets workhouse, probation sentence for fentanyl-related death

A Richfield man learned his punishment Monday morning after pleading guilty earlier this year to a drug charge stemming from a March 2022 death in Minnetonka.

Court documents show that Judge Julie Allyn sentenced 35-year-old Anteneh Yettemgeta Admasu on Monday to spend 90 days in the Hennepin County Workhouse, with six days of credit, followed by three years of supervised probation. A 27-month sentence at the St. Cloud prison was stayed for three years.

A plea deal filed in July shows Admasu entered a guilty plea to one count of third-degree drug selling. The maximum sentence for the charge was 20 years in prison. Initially, Admasu was also charged with a third-degree murder charge, however, as part of the agreement that charge was dropped.

As previously reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, Admasu was charged after police connected him to a woman who was found dead in an apartment complex on the 12700 block of Wayzata Boulevard from an overdose.

Officers at the scene of the woman’s death found two blue pills — one which was partially gone — along with burnt tinfoil, a lighter and a straw near the victim’s body. One of the pills was taken for testing, which showed the pills contained fentanyl, court documents state.

Toxicology results later showed the victim had fentanyl, trazodone, mirtazapine and cyclobenzaprine in her system when she died.

According to a criminal complaint, the woman’s family told police she’d just completed chemical dependency treatment that day and was visiting her family when she said she was going to take out the trash and say hello to a friend. She was found unresponsive a short time later.

Phone records in the hours before her death showed the victim had been texting Admasu about an apparent meet-up. In those messages, the complaint notes the victim asked Admasu, “U still doin 10$” and Admasu responded, “I be there in 25 min.” Officers say fentanyl pills are commonly sold for $5 to $10 per pill, which would correspond with the pills found at the scene.

Other cellphone data showed the victim and Admasu were in the meet-up location area just 20 to 30 minutes before the 911 call reporting the victim’s overdose.