Round Lake man pleads guilty to supplying fatal heroin dose to friend
A Round Lake man accused of supplying a fatal dose of heroin to his best friend pleaded guilty to a single count of delivery of a controlled substance in Lake County court Wednesday.
Byron Sullivan, 22, was sentenced to 30 months of probation and 18 months of periodic imprisonment as part of the plea agreement reached in front of Lake County Judge James Booras.
Sullivan was awarded just over 100 days of credit for time served in jail following his arrest in February, as well as time he spent in substance abuse treatment.
Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Reginald Mathews said the plea deal was agreed to by the mother of the victim, Tim McCann, 20, of Libertyville, who died after he ingested heroin he purchased from Sullivan.
Authorities said McCann was found unconscious in the basement of his Libertyville home on Jan. 31 after taking the heroin. He was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where he later died.
“I think the state did the right thing here,” defense attorney Steve McCullom said following the hearing. “This is a tragedy for everyone involved; for both the victim and his family, but also my client.”
As part of the plea deal, Sullivan testified under oath that he purchased McCann's fatal heroin dose from Eugene Henderson, 34, of Waukegan. He also testified that he purchased heroin from Henderson on more than 40 occasions.
Henderson, of the 300 block of Judge Avenue, remains held in Lake County jail in lieu of $500,000 bail after being charged with drug-induced homicide, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of a firearm by a felon. He is due back in court Sept. 24 for a pretrial hearing.
In addition to probation and periodic imprisonment, Sullivan is ordered to continue with drug counseling, perform 100 hours of community service, and pay more than $3,000 in court costs and fines.
He was facing a maximum of 30 years in prison if found guilty of drug-induced homicide. He was free from jail after posing the required 10 percent of his $250,000 bond.