MANISTEE (WWJ) -- Following an investigation by Michigan State Police, two Northern Michigan residents have now been arrested and formally charged with supplying the drugs that caused a man’s overdose death in 2020.
The initial incident occurred at the beginning of April 2020, at which time Michigan State Police from the Cadillac Post were sent to check out a car parked on 28th Street in Manistee with an unresponsive person inside.
The deceased was a 30-year-old Manistee man, whose life had been claimed by an apparent drug overdose. Troopers found a syringe in his hand and collected additional evidence from inside the vehicle.
An autopsy determined that the cause of death was toxicity from fentanyl and another opioid called mitragynine.
MSP detectives launched a lengthy investigation into the origin of the lethal drugs, which included interviewing witnesses, seizing cell phones and executing search warrants.
Over two years later, on June 14, 2022, prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Brittany Andre McClarty, 38, of Manistee. She was found in West Monroe, Louisiana and taken into custody on Sept. 7, 2022. A team from MSP's Seventh District brought her back to Michigan, and she has been held in the Manistee County Jail ever since.
In the six months following her arrest, McClarty was charged with delivering a controlled substance causing death and delivering a controlled substance less than 50 grams. Her case has been bound over for trial.
A second arrest warrant was issued on Feb. 1, 2023, for 31-year-old Derek Robert Rosen of Bear Lake. He is currently in custody at the Manistee County Jail and faces the same charges as McClarty.
Rosen's bond was set at $150,000, and he is scheduled to appear in court again on Mar. 22.
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