FOND DU LAC COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A Milwaukee man was convicted of first degree reckless homicide for delivering the drugs used in a 2020 fentanyl overdose death.
23-year-old Derrise Townsend Jr. pleaded no contest to the charge, Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney announced Friday. Bond was revoked and sentencing is set for Dec. 2.
According to the criminal complaint, deputies and emergency medical personnel were dispatched to a home in the township of Metomen on May 8, 2020.
The victim’s parents reported their 24-year-old son “was not breathing or conscious and was cold and stiff” and “had what appeared to be vomit and blood coming from his nose and mouth.” He was pronounced dead at the scene.
In speaking with the victim’s parents, authorities learned the man had a long history of drug use and had started using heroin at the age of 16.
Using cell phone records, investigators found hundreds of messages and phone calls exchanged between the victim and a contact that were consistent with drug transactions. That contact was later identified as Townsend Jr., who was 18 years old at the time.
It appeared that VICTIM 1 was purchasing from [Townsend Jr.] and traveling to his location which was believed to be in Milwaukee.
Investigators discovered the victim and Townsend Jr. had met and been housed together while they were in the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility.
“Fentanyl is a scourge on society that continues to destroy lives and our communities. Although today’s conviction will not take away the pain from a family that lost a loved one, it does hold the defendant accountable for distributing poison into our community. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to aggressively prosecute fentanyl and overdose deaths to help protect our community,” Toney said in a news release.
Townsend also has an open first degree reckless homicide case filed in Milwaukee County.
