A Woodbury man has been sentenced to 135 months in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in the overdose death of a Savage father.

Tino Andre Jones Jr., 34, was sentenced Dec. 22 following a plea agreement with Scott County. Scott County Attorney Ron Hocevar called the plea deal “an excellent resolution in this case in holding a drug dealer responsible for the consequences of his drug dealing.”

Tino Andre Jones Jr. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Corrections)

“It is difficult to convict drug dealers. That’s why Law Enforcement did such a fabulous job in tracing the drugs involved in the overdose back to the Defendant as being the supplier,” Hocevar wrote. “Many hours of surveillance, phone records, search warrants, data interpretation, toxicology and more were involved in the successful prosecution.”

He credited the work of the Savage Police Department with help from the Dakota County Drug Task Force.

Benjamin Barsness, age 38, who was the father of three young children, was the victim, according to Savage Police Chief Rodney Seurer, who added “there is nothing the Savage Police Department can do to fix this tragedy, but we are hopeful that the third degree murder conviction of the person responsible for Benjamin’s death will serve some justice for his family.”

According to a criminal complaint, on Aug. 5, 2020, police arrived at a home in Savage after someone found a man dead in the home. The victim’s mother, after returning home from running errands, found the body in a master bedroom closet where home medical supplies are located. She and her husband called 911, but life saving efforts were unsuccessful.

An officer found the victim’s phone at the scene and found recent text messages to a phone number later identified as allegedly belonging to Jones.

“Agent (Andrew) Dahmes viewed these messages and observed them to clearly be discussing narcotics,” the complaint reads. “A recent message sent from decedent’s phone to Number 1 was sent at 3:17 p.m. stating ‘this is stronger.’ This message was sent 1 hour and 20 minutes prior to Decedent’s mother calling 911.”

Dahmes conducted a forensic examination of the victim’s phone and found more text messages between the victim and the phone number between Aug. 1-5. According to the complaint, conversations about the purchase of pills by the victim and the delivery of them to the victim were discussed in the text messages.

“Additionally, Agent Dahmes observed a text from Number 1 to Decedent at 2:43 p.m. on Aug. 5 stating he was ‘5 minutes away,’” the complaint reads. Dahmes put the number in law enforcement databases and “got a return of an individual associated with this number” who was identified as Jones. According to the complaint, the number was registered with local jails and was shown as being used in previous police investigations.

A search warrant was executed at Jones’ home. Jones gave up his cell phone, which had the same number as the calls and texts made to the victim, the complaint said.

“Upon a forensic examination of that phone Agent Dahmes observed that it had partially been ‘washed out,’” the complaint stated. “Other text messages from Number 1 to the other numbers contain subject material surrounding the sale of narcotics.”

In addition, during the search crushed pills were located on top of a bedroom dresser. Near the pills on the dresser was Jones’ ID, the complaint alleges. Another search at the home found fentanyl.

The Medical Examiner determined the death was caused by a “mixed toxicity from a drug overdose with ethanol, fentanyl, and oxycodone,” the complaint said.

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