Man spared prison for selling fatal dose of fentanyl out of his Coon Rapids liquor store

A man who owned a Coon Rapids liquor store and sold potent opioids there was spared prison and received a year in the Anoka County workhouse Tuesday for selling drugs to a man who overdosed and died hours later.

John L. Varhol, 62, was sentenced in District Court after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in connection with the death in May 2020 of 34-year-old Ryan N. Weber of Blaine.

Judge Todd Schoffelman agreed with the defense’s recommendation, imposed the jail term and set aside a seven-year sentence for 10 years while Varhol is on supervised probation.

State records show the store’s liquor license was canceled on Oct. 22, 2020, five months after Varhol sold the drugs that killed Weber. The store now operates under new ownership.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police were alerted May 22, 2020, to Varhol having a seizure at Coon Rapids Liquor on Foley Boulevard near Northdale Boulevard.

Emergency workers put him in an ambulance, where he went into cardiac arrest. He was revived and taken to nearby Mercy Hospital.

An officer found two prescription bottles with 112 oxycodone pills and 56 fentanyl pills in his pocket.

The same night, police answered a call about an overdose at a home about a mile south of the liquor store in the 10400 block of Foley Boulevard. Officers found a 31-year-old resident of the home semiconscious and another, Weber, not breathing.

Medical personnel tended to Weber, but he died at the scene. The other resident survived.

The surviving resident told law enforcement he and a friend went to the liquor store that day and bought pills from Varhol. He said he and Weber met up, crushed the fentanyl pills and snorted them.

Varhol was also seen on store video crushing and snorting pills in his office about five minutes before he had a seizure.