Employee of Newport bar is arrested after 4 men are found unconscious there; 1 dies

An employee of a Newport Beach bar reportedly was arrested Friday night after four men overdosed there – one of them fatally – on an unknown substance early Friday.

Police said Sean Robert McLaughlin, 42, was arrested at about 8:45 p.m. at his Aliso Viejo home on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter, according to the Orange County Register and City News Service.

McLaughlin is an employee of American Junkie, a bar in the 2400 block of Newport Boulevard where the four men lost consciousness, apparently after ingesting a narcotic, authorities said. Paramedics were called to the establishment at about 1 a.m. Friday and took the men, some of whom were in respiratory arrest, to local hospitals, authorities said.

One of the men died, according to Newport Beach police. The others were treated and released.

Detectives suspect the men got the narcotic from McLaughlin, the Register reported. Search warrants were served at his home and American Junkie.

The investigation is continuing, and police asked that anyone with information about the case contact Det. Rick Henry at (949) 644-3797 or rhenry@nbpd.org.