Prosecutors say men dealt fentanyl-laced heroin at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center; one man died of OD
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Federal prosecutors say two men sold fentanyl-laced heroin at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago.
Prosecutors said one of the veterans at the hospital overdosed on the drugs and died.
Richard Husband, 71, and Wayne Townsend, 73, are charged with distribution of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, respectively, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Criminal complaints accuse the men of dealing fentanyl-laced heroin at the VA hospital, at 820 S. Damen Ave. in the Illinois Medical District, last summer.
The men were arrested Monday. They could each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.Federal prosecutors say two men sold fentanyl-laced heroin at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago.
Richard Husband, 71, and Wayne Townsend, 73, are charged with distribution of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, respectively, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Criminal complaints accuse the men of dealing fentanyl-laced heroin at the VA hospital, at 820 S. Damen Ave. in the Illinois Medical District, last summer.
Prosecutors said one of the veterans at the hospital overdosed on the drugs and died.
Prosecutors said on July 22 at 9:53 a.m., Husband was sitting in a motorized wheelchair at the hospital next to another man – identified in a criminal complaint as Individual A – who was also in a wheelchair. A third man was pushing Individual A, and a fourth man was seated across from Husband on a bench, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Husband reached to a bag as the man on the bench counted cash. The man on the bench then retrieved an item from husband – as seen on surveillance video, prosecutors said.
Husband then turned his wheelchair toward the other man in the wheelchair and was seen on surveillance video giving that man a clear plastic bag, prosecutors said. Prosecutors allege that bag contained fentanyl-laced heroin.
The man who had been pushing the other man in the wheelchair later told authorities the man in the wheelchair had told him he had been waiting for Husband, prosecutors said.
That same day at 10:50 a.m., a police official on patrol near the VA Medical Center saw a different man in distress near a nearby bus stop. A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs officer gave the man three doses of Narcan and he was later taken to the hospital for treatment, prosecutors said. This man later said he purchased two dime bags of heroin from Husband for $20, prosecutors said.
Another man told authorities that Husband had been seen distributing drugs to people who were known to be patients and employees at the VA Medical Center. The drugs Husband distributed were known as "gray death" because of their strength and the number of overdoses that had occurred, prosecutors said.
Authorities later talked to the daughter of the man in the wheelchair to whom Husband was allegedly seen selling fentanyl-laced heroin. She said she and another family member and found her father dead, and nearby she had found several baggies.
Testing revealed that the man had fentanyl in his system, and his death was ruled a result of fentanyl, heroin, and diphenhydramine toxicity, prosecutors said.
On July 2, law enforcement saw Husband selling drugs to another man at a bus stop outside the VA Medical Center. They approached the man who had bought the drugs and found packets of white powder in a cigarette box – which the man said contained heroin, prosecutors said.
This man later identified Husband as the man who sold him the drugs, prosecutors said.
Husband later admitted to selling heroin – specifically to the man who later died, prosecutors said. He called the heroin he gave this man "silver time," and said he was trying to help the man, who was an addict, prosecutors said.
In a separate criminal complaint, prosecutors said authorities found drug paraphernalia in Townsend's car, which was parked outside the VA hospital. They then found nine baggies of a substance that tested positive for heroin and fentanyl on Townsend's person, prosecutors said.
Townsend told authorities he had a heroin addiction and himself and had begun selling heroin last year. He said he sold heroin to about 10 customers at the VA hospital who are all veterans, prosecutors said.
Husband and Townsend were arrested Monday. They could each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
