WAHPETON, N.D. – Two years after their son was found dead in the Red River near here, a gunshot wound to his head and a backpack of rocks tied around his waist, the parents of Andrew Sadek have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a sheriff’s deputy.





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Autopsy results were inconclusive, but parents John and Tammy Sadek think their son was murdered, possibly because he was working as a confidential informant.





The lawsuit, filed Monday, June 27, claiming wrongful death, fraud and deceit, names Richland County and Richland County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Weber, who is an agent on the Southeast Multi-County Agency Narcotics Task Force.

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Weber declined Monday to comment on the lawsuit.





Sadek, then a North Dakota State College of Science student, had been caught twice selling marijuana to an informant on campus in April 2013.





In video of a meeting between Sadek and Weber released to The Forum, the men discussed in November 2013 Sadek working for the agency as a confidential informant or facing a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.





Weber told Sadek he would have to do two controlled drug buys on three or four people in order to get his charges reduced or dropped, the lawsuit alleges.





Faced with two felonies and a misdemeanor, Sadek agreed to go undercover.

Starting that November and through January 2014, Sadek completed three drug buys, the lawsuit said, and the two men were in contact at least once a month until mid-April 2014.





Around that time, with a couple more drug deals to carry out, Sadek stopped contacting the task force. Weber tried to call him on April 17, but received no answer.





Sadek was last seen leaving the NDSCS campus in the early morning of May 1. He was reported missing the next day.





On June 27, 2014, Sadek’s body was found in the Red River near Breckenridge, Minn., a bullet in his head from a gun that has still not been found.





Among the claims made in the lawsuit are negligence, deceit and fraud by both Weber and Richland County.





John and Tammy Sadek suffered damages including mental anguish, emotional distress and grief, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit doesn’t give a total sum for damages being sought.





The Sadeks declined to comment when reached Monday afternoon.



The case has gotten national attention. It was the subject of a “60 Minutes” report in December, prompting some lawmakers to push for reforms in how young confidential informants are used in drug investigations.