2 sentenced in overdose death of 17-year-old Woodbury girl

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Two men have been sentenced for providing a synthetic drug to a 17-year-old girl who died of an overdose in Woodbury.

Alexander Lee Claussen, 20, and Cole Alexander Matenaer, 19, were convicted of third-degree murder in the January 2014 death of Woodbury High School junior Tara Fitzgerald, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

Claussen was sentenced Friday to more than six years in prison, and Matenaer was sentenced to one year in jail and 15 years' probation.

Three other teens were also charged. They are now 18 but were 17-year-old Woodbury High School students when Fitzgerald died. Prosecutors are seeking to have them certified to adult court. They have hearings in February and March.

According to the charges, Fitzgerald was found unresponsive on Jan. 11, 2014, and died a short time later. Her friends told police she had ingested what she believed was LSD. The substance turned out to be a synthetic drug called 25i-NBOMe.

Police determined that the drug originated with Claussen in St. Cloud and went to Matenaer before being sold to the three other teens and finally to Fitzgerald, the criminal complaint said.

Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said at the time charges were filed that Claussen was "as far as we could trace it.

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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com