Round Lake Beach man held in heroin overdose death

A Round Lake Beach man is being held Friday on $500,000 bond in connection with the May 12 death of a man in Round Lake Park.

Michael N. Seelye, 31, of the 500 block of West Hawthorne Drive, was charged late Thursday with drug induced homicide. He turned himself in to Round Lake Park police, said Chief George Filenko.

The arrest followed a monthlong investigation involving the heroin overdose death of Hector D. Quinones, 31.

Police said a relative who lived in the home on the 400 block of Colony Drive, found an unresponsive Quinones about 7 a.m., called 911 and tried to resuscitate him.

Police and fire personnel also tried to revive Quinones but were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at the scene, Filenko said.

The cause of death was heroin intoxication, according to Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd.

Filenko said Quinones and Seelye knew each other.

“I think they had something of a casual friendship,” he said. “They met at the house (and) they both ingested heroin which Mr. Seelye provided,” Filenko said.

Police had been looking for Seelye since early this week, Filenko said. No other arrests were made as a result of the investigation, he added.

Filenko, who also heads the Lake County Major Crime Task Force, said the use of heroin has become widespread in the village as well as the area and state.

“We've had a number of heroin related overdoses (in Round Lake Park) this year but this is the first heroin-related death,” he said. “It's a county wide problem if not a statewide problem.”

He said there is no standard profile of a heroin user.

“It's all communities, socio-economic groups, it's young, it's old. It's way out of control.”