Lewiston man charged in fentanyl death

A 28-year-old Clarkston man arrested this morning by Lewiston police has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly selling fentanyl pills that led to the death of 26-year-old Zachary Taylor, of Lewiston, last month.

Kollin D. Mazur will make his initial appearance in Nez Perce County Magistrate Court on Monday afternoon on the single charge, according to Prosecutor Justin Coleman. In a news release, Coleman said overdoses and fatalities related to the sale and use of fentanyl tablets have quickly become a crisis in the community.

“The danger of the continued sale of these pills cannot be overstated,” he said. “People who sell these drugs are preying on people with addiction issues who oftentimes don’t even understand the risk of serious overdose or death by taking them.”

The small tablets are frequently determined to be counterfeit blue oxycodone pills with a letter “M” stamped on one side and “30” on the other. They originate from clandestine labs in Mexico, earning them nicknames like Mexis, Mexi 30s or “blues.” But instead of, or in addition to, oxycodone, they contain wildly varying dosages of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which can be 80-100 times as powerful as morphine.

Mazur sold Taylor fentanyl tablets on Sept. 12 that led to his death later that day, according to the news release. Mazur faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $10,000 if convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The arrest came after an investigation that included the Lewiston Police Department, FBI, Quad Cities Drug Task Force and the prosecutor’s office, according to the news release.