A Rio Rancho man has been charged with giving a 16-year-old boy fentanyl to smoke, resulting in an overdose.
Patrick Gross, 34, of Rio Rancho is charged with child abuse resulting in great bodily harm.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Sandoval County Magistrate Court, police and emergency medical workers were dispatched to Presbyterian Urgent Care at NM 528 and High Resort Boulevard just before 11 a.m. April 26 after a report of an overdose.
When officers and paramedics arrived, clinic staff had already administered Narcan and other treatment to the 16-year-old boy, who was conscious but lethargic. While the paramedics attended to the boy, officers interviewed Gross and his wife.
According to the criminal complaint, Gross said the boy’s back hurt, so he gave the teen fentanyl and they smoked it together about 40 minutes before at Gross’s home. Neither had a prescription for it.
Gross’s wife said she didn’t see the two smoking, but the boy started showing signs of an overdose as they left Target later. She said they then drove to the urgent care clinic nearby.
The boy told an officer that he did use fentanyl, according to the complaint.
An officer called the boy’s mother and instructed her to meet them at the hospital.
Gross was arrested and taken to Sandoval County Detention Center. He was later released on bail. His attorney did not return a phone call seeking comment.