Waukegan man gets 6 years in prison for providing drugs in overdose death

A Waukegan man was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for providing the drugs in the overdose death of a 39-year-old McHenry woman in June 2018.

Jermal A. Johnson, 49, of the 3000 block of Caryn Lane, has been held at the McHenry County jail since his arrest in October 2018 on charges of drug-induced homicide in Jennifer M. Richards' death from heroin, cocaine and clonazepam, a pain reliever.

Authorities were called June 15, 2018 to the 1900 block of North Orleans Street in McHenry and found Richards unresponsive. She was unable to be revived and an autopsy showed she died from a combination of the three drugs, according to authorities.

Investigators eventually traced the drugs to Johnson, who was arrested in early October 2018 and charged with drug-induced homicide.

Johnson faced a sentence of six to 30 years in prison on the charge. Under the guilty plea accepted by McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather, Johnson also must pay $648 in court fines and fees, according to court records.

Under state law, he can have his sentenced cut in half for good behavior and he gets credit for more than 14 months served at McHenry County jail while his case was pending.