Jail for Wood Dale man who sold morphine

A 20-year-old Wood Dale man was sentenced Wednesday to 180 days in the DuPage County jail for selling morphine pills to a 16-year-old boy last year who overdosed and slipped into a two-week coma.

The teen survived.

Christopher J. Grzeca also will be on probation for two years once he is released from jail. The sentence followed Grzeca's agreement to plead guilty to drug-induced infliction of great bodily harm in exchange for the DuPage State's Attorney's office dropping three other drug-related charges. Grzeca was given credit for 121 days he's already spent in jail and he will still have to serve 59 more days. He had bonded out once, but was arrested again in January after he failed a court-ordered drug test.

Court records showed that Grzeca currently is taking part in drug abuse classes at the jail. Grzeca has pleaded guilty to marijuana possession and drug paraphernalia possession in the past.

Grzeca was arrested months after the April 2009 overdose of a friend at a party in Roselle. Grzeca was accused of buying the morphine pills from another friend who stole them from his father's supply that was needed for treatment of the man's lung cancer. The friend who sold Grzeca the pills was not charged, prosecutors said.

Paramedics found the 16-year-old boy unresponsive at the party and he remained in a coma for 17 days before he began breathing on his own again, court records show.

Assistant DuPage State's Attorney Ken Tatarelis said he spoke with the victim's mother about the plea deal before it was offered. He said the teenager had recovered from the overdose.