Mark Anthony Rodgers Jr., 32, has been charged with Class AA felony murder in the drug overdose death of a 16-year-old girl at a Minot hotel on Dec. 14, according to Minot police.

Police did not release the name of the girl who died and court records in the case have been sealed but, according to statements made in court by Ward County Assistant State’s Attorney Tiffany Sorgen on Monday, Rodgers allegedly rented the room for the girl. He is also accused of injecting her with the drug himself. Sorgen told Judge Stacy Louser that Rodgers has allegedly been associated with several overdose deaths across North Dakota.

Capt Dale Plessas of the Minot Police Department said Monday he could not comment on the specifics of the investigation or identify the drug on which the girl overdosed.

Plessas said last week there have been 16 drug overdose deaths in the Minot area this year, more than five times the three overdose deaths reported in Minot in 2019. There have been a total of 90 overdose incidents in Minot this year, almost three times the 31 drug overdoses last year. Plessas said last week that fentanyl is the major contributing factor in many of the overdose incidents. Fentanyl is reportedly at least 50 times more potent than heroin and is more lethal. In some cases in Minot, both the people who used the drug and those who who dealt the drug believed they were dealing heroin or oxycodone rather than fentanyl because of the way the pills were marked.

Rodgers is also charged with Class C felony tampering with physical evidence, Class C felony maintaining a premises for the use of illegal drugs, Class C felony corruption of a minor, and Class A misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

During his initial appearance before Louser on Monday, Rodgers said the incident is a “misunderstanding” that he is “going to fix.” He denied having anything to do with overdose deaths elsewhere. Rodgers said he isn’t the bad guy that the prosecution is trying to make him out to be and “I’m just a drug addict who lives on the streets.” He said he had just made arrangements to attend a treatment facility in Bismarck.

Rodgers has an extensive history of drug-related convictions. Rodgers is currently on supervised probation for intent to deliver heroin at a hotel in Minot last year. He was also ordered last year to serve about 18 months for the Class B felony charge. In 2016 he pleaded guilty to felony child neglect after he and a woman allowed a toddler to be present in a room at another hotel during a drug buy in June 2015 that Rodgers had set up. Rodgers also pleaded guilty to intent to deliver oxycodone for that offense.

Judge Louser set bond at $1 million cash or corporate surety and ordered Rodgers to undergo regular drug testing if he is released on bond. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for March 4 before Louser.