Cicero man pleads guilty in 2016 Oak Brook overdose death

A Cicero man accused of supplying heroin to a Wisconsin man who then died in an Oak Brook hotel has pleaded guilty to drug-induced homicide.

Before entering his blind plea Monday, Matthew Chapman, 31, of the 1800 block of S. 58th Avenue, rejected an offer from prosecutors to plead guilty to the same charges in exchange for a 10-year sentence. Chapman instead faces six to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced this summer.

Judge John Kinsella will decide his sentence after a hearing. In recent years, Kinsella, who is on record saying he "hates" cannabis and heroin and the effects he believes they have on children and young adults, has sentenced heroin dealers to 12 to 20 years. He is also known to routinely show drug dealers and addicts a photo of a young person who died of a heroin overdose while lecturing defendants who come before him.

Authorities say Zachary Giebel, 25, traveled from Wisconsin to Oak Brook on Aug. 13, 2016, to attend a party with friends. The next day, he contacted Chapman, formerly from Wisconsin, to buy cocaine and heroin, authorities said.

Assistant State's Attorney Claudia Fantauzzo said Giebel and two friends went to Cicero the next day and purchased cocaine and heroin from Chapman. Fantauzzo said Chapman later admitted to also using cocaine with the group and telling Giebel's friends to "keep an eye on him" after he appeared to have a reaction to the drugs.

After returning to Oak Brook, Giebel fell asleep and his friends left him in the hotel when they went to party with other friends. When they returned to the room at 5 a.m., Giebel was unresponsive and his friends called 911, Fantauzzo said.

According to the forensic pathologist who conducted Giebel's autopsy, the primary cause of death was alcohol, heroin and cocaine intoxication, Fantauzzo said.

An investigation by Oak Brook police and the DuPage Metropolitan Enforcement Group led to Chapman's February 2017 arrest. He has been held in DuPage County jail on $500,000 bail ever since.

"This is a tragic story that we have heard over and over again that must come to an end," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a written statement. "People must realize that heroin is a killer and it only takes one dose of this deadly poison to end a life."

Chapman is next due in court June 5, when Kinsella will set a sentencing date.