N.H. man charged in overdose death

AUBURN – A New Hampshire man arrested as part of a Lewiston drug sweep has been charged in connection with the death of a woman who died in Auburn after an overdose.

Mohammad Attaei, 44, of Nashua, N.H., was arrested in New Hampshire on Feb. 5 as police in Lewiston and Auburn conducted a drug sweep. He was arraigned in Nashua District Court on a felony fugitive charge. He was later jailed and his bail was set at $100,000.

Attaei was indicted on a felony drug distribution charge in Androscoggin County Superior Court. The Androscoggin County District Attorney’s Office said it will seek his extradition from New Hampshire.

Prosecutors allege that Attaei provided OxyContin to a woman who later overdosed on the drug and died.

Patricia Harmon, 33, of Auburn remained comatose for nearly three weeks before she died Sept. 1, 2002.

Harmon, a mother of two children now aged 13 and 11, began using a narcotic painkiller for rheumatoid arthritis and apparently became addicted, said her sister Amy Hart of Auburn.

Hart said her sister’s drug problem got worse when she began dating Attaei.

“He was her boyfriend. We believe he was actually the one shooting her up at the time,” Hart said.

The charge against Attaei is a Class C felony, which carries a maximum of five years in prison.

The same crime would carry a far more severe penalty in New Hampshire.

Attaei’s arrest was part of a larger investigation by Lewiston and Maine state police.