Bloomington man charged with dealing drugs in woman’s overdose death

Booking photo – Seth G. Svenson

Staff report

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A Bloomington man has been charged with dealing a controlled substance resulting in death after police say he sold fentanyl-laced drugs to a woman who was found dead in her apartment in June.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed Thursday in Monroe Circuit Court, 46-year-old Seth G. Svenson is accused of selling drugs to a 38-year-old woman the night before she was discovered unresponsive in her bedroom. The Monroe County Coroner’s Office ruled the woman died of acetylfentanyl and fentanyl toxicity, and classified her death as accidental.

On June 18, Bloomington police were called to the woman’s apartment in the 3300 block of South Odell Drive after her boyfriend reported waking to find her dead. He told police the pair had smoked heroin the previous night. Officers arriving at the scene found burnt aluminum foil, a small purple straw with burn marks, and a plastic bag containing a crystal powdery substance in the woman’s bedroom.

A Bloomington Police Department detective wrote in the affidavit that the boyfiend identified “Seth” as their drug supplier. The boyfriend said he and his girlfriend had picked Svenson up on the evening of June 17 because his vehicle was not working, brought him back to the woman’s apartment, and purchased $120 worth of drugs from him via Cash App. The boyfriend told investigators he believed the substance may have been heroin but that it likely contained fentanyl.

The boyfriend admitted using some of the drugs that night, which he said caused him to pass out several times. He also said Svenson used drugs with them. When the boyfriend awoke the next morning, his girlfriend was slumped over the side of the bed and unresponsive. The boyfriend said he told Svenson he was calling 911, prompting Svenson to leave the apartment immediately.

Detectives later interviewed Svenson after he was arrested June 25 on an unrelated warrant. According to police, Svenson admitted selling drugs to the couple that night, saying $60 of the $120 payment was for half a gram of narcotics and the rest was to settle a prior drug debt. He told investigators he had purchased the drugs earlier that day from a man known as “Cowboy,” whom he described as selling the “strongest” narcotics.

Svenson acknowledged he had sold drugs to the couple in the past and used proceeds from drug sales to pay bills, according to the affidavit.

An autopsy found no signs of trauma. Toxicology tests revealed lethal levels of acetylfentanyl and fentanyl.

Svenson remains in the Monroe County jail. The charge of dealing a controlled substance resulting in death is a Level 1 felony in Indiana

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