Libertyville men deny giving heroin to teen

A pair of Libertyville men accused of supplying the heroin that caused a teenage girl to overdose pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Lake County Circuit Court.

Russell Gentry, 19, and Nicholas Kobiter, 20, both of the 1500 block of Bull Creek Drive, are charged with drug-induced infliction of great bodily harm in the incident.

Assistant State's Attorney Rod Drobinski said Libertyville police were called after the 17-year-old girl's mother took her to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Liberyville around 8 p.m. on Feb. 24.

The mother reported she had found her daughter nearly unconscious from an overdose that occurred after Gentry had injected her with heroin, Drobinski said.

Medical personnel were able to revive the girl, Drobinski said, and police went to question Gentry.

Gentry told them he and Kobiter had driven to Chicago and bought four small packages of heroin, and the girl had been injected with the equivalent of approximately one-half of a cold capsule full of the drug.

Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti told the pair they face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

She scheduled a trial of the case for July 6 and ordered both to appear in court May 14.