MONROE, Conn. – A 24-year-old Monroe man survived a medical scare after smoking marijuana with a female friend at the entrance to Webb Mountain Park Friday morning. Police later found it was laced with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that has caused many overdose deaths in the state.

Officers responded to the report of an unresponsive man in a tan Volvo outside the park on Old Fish House Road around 11:26 a.m., but when they arrived, he was breathing and responsive, according to police.

Monroe Volunteer Emergency Medical Service personnel evaluated him at the scene and the man was taken to a hospital for further treatment.

Police said it was unclear why he suffered the side effects, until the marijuana tested positive for fentanyl.

According to a Hartford Courant article on Feb. 14, “1,200 people died of some sort of drug overdose in Connecticut in 2019, a nearly 20% increase from the prior year, mostly attributed to the continued rise in” deaths from fentanyl mixed with other drugs, “including a muscle relaxant for horses.”

ID theft nightmare

A Monroe man filed a fraud complaint at the Monroe Police Department on Saturday, in a case of identity theft that spread from his credit card to his bank account and his home mortgage.

Police said the man discovered $10,000 worth of fraudulent charges on his credit card on Jan. 10 and his credit card company corrected the charges, so he did not file a police report at the time.

Then on Feb. 8, $3,000 was withdrawn from his bank account. The bank reimbursed him and changed his account number.

But that was not the end of it. The victim’s mortgage company notified him that someone filed a change of address request for his account.

Police are investigating the incidents.

Illegal dumping

Stevenson firefighters reported illegal dumping outside Firehouse 1 at 1580 Monroe Turnpike Sunday.

Police said the lock was cut to the Dumpster and unauthorized trash was placed inside.