McHenry Co. man admits giving nephew heroin that killed him

A McHenry County man was sentenced to 14 years in prison Tuesday after admitting he supplied his nephew with the heroin that killed him.

Wade R. Smith, 41, pleaded guilty to unlawful delivery of a controlled substance as part of a deal in which prosecutors dismissed a previous charge of drug-induced homicide.

The charge stems from the March 23 fatal overdose of 30-year-old Kendrick Vogt in the Harvard-area home he shared with his girlfriend and Smith.

A day earlier, Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Philip Hiscock said, all three traveled to Rockford where they obtained $200 cash by returning items to a Toys R Us store. From there they drove to a house in Rockford where Smith went inside and purchased heroin, Hiscock said.

Vogt was found unresponsive in his bedroom the next morning, a hypodermic syringe laying near his body. His girlfriend told authorities that Smith then told her he had injected his nephew with heroin, Hiscock said.

Smith admits buying the drugs, but disputes claims he injected Vogt or directly gave him heroin, said his attorney, Senior Assistant Public Defender Richard Behof. Instead, he said he gave the drug to Vogt's girlfriend.

"That's one of the reasons he wouldn't plead guilty to the original charge," Behof said. "He was willing to plead only to what he felt responsible for."

Smith, who previously served time on a 2002 burglary conviction out of Cook County, could go free in less than seven years with credit for time served and day-for-day good time credit while in prison.