Montville man faces charges over connection to fatal overdose

Montville — State police on Thursday arrested an Oakdale man who allegedly waited an hour in February before calling 911 about an unconscious man in his house who later died of an opioid overdose.

Michael J. Bedard, 55, of 8 Illinois Court, Oakdale, was charged on a warrant in Oakdale with criminally negligent homicide and cruelty to persons.

According to an arrest warrant application written by Montville police Officer Addison Saffioti, Bedard on the afternoon of Feb. 9 texted the deceased man, also a 55-year-old, “U want to do a couple lines come on down.”

Almost five hours later that day, at 8:32 p.m., a Montville firefighter was sent to the house for a reported overdose. In a written statement, the firefighter said he found the deceased sitting upright on a couch in the basement there, unconscious, unresponsive and cold to the touch, but slowly breathing.

According to the application, the firefighter said the man who met him at the front door said he believed his friend had overdosed “because of his history” but became angry when asked to elaborate. The man further stated that he waited to call 911 because he thought his friend was sleeping and that he didn’t know what his friend had taken, the firefighter said.

When Saffioti interviewed Bedard at Bedard’s home on Feb. 26, Bedard said he already told officers at the scene what had happened and did not wish to tell it again, according to Saffioti.

When asked about the text he sent, Saffioti wrote, Bedard said he and the deceased used to snort Adderall together. He then asked Saffioti to leave.

Medical records from The William W. Backus Hospital and Yale-New Haven Hospital show the deceased, to whom Narcan was administered, had cannabis and opiates in his system and had severe brain injury as a result of being oxygen deprived for at least an hour.

The man was pronounced dead on Feb. 12.

Bedard’s arrest comes just more than a week after three local men were charged federally in relation to their alleged role in overdose deaths and two weeks after officials at the local, statewide and federal level announced a new protocol put into place in January that aims to crack down on dealers who can be linked to overdose deaths.

He is scheduled to appear in Norwich Superior Court May 12.