CF man sentenced to 10 years in overdose homicide cases
Apr. 19—CHIPPEWA FALLS — A Chippewa Falls man, who is already serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for supplying drugs to two men in November 2017 who later died, was sentenced Friday to an additional 10 years for causing the deaths.
Shane P. Johnson, 43, 16056 50th Ave., pleaded no contest in September in Chippewa County Court to first-degree reckless homicide/delivery of drugs and first-degree recklessly endangering safety.
Judge Steve Gibbs said Friday that while Johnson didn't directly kill the men, he is responsible for giving them the drugs that ended their life. Along with the 10 years in prison, he also ordered 15 years of extended supervision.
"This is a tragic case. If it wasn't for these overdoses, everyone here might be gathering together at a function," Gibbs said.
Chippewa County assistant district attorney Roy Gay sought 7 1/2 years in prison and 15 years of extended supervision, consecutive to the drug sentence.
"There needs to be a penalty for each of these (deaths), above and beyond the federal offense," Gay said. Anything less would diminish the loss of life, Gay added.
"Mr. Johnson had plenty of chances for treatment. He just tossed them away," Gay said.
Defense attorney Kirby Harless stressed how long the 20-year prison sentence already is.
"The question is how much more does it take, to make you feel better?" Harless said. "There will be no benefit to anyone, to have him additional time incarcerated in his 60s."
Johnson, who is currently incarcerated at a federal facility in Rochester, Minn., appeared in person. He looked down at the desk while family members of the victims testified. He read a handwritten statement about his regret and anguish over the death of his friends.
"The thing about being a drug addict is you don't think rationally," Johnson said. "Like most addicts, I was ashamed of who I had become."
Johnson also had been charged with: manufacture or deliver of narcotics, possession of marijuana, heroin, cocaine and non-narcotics, maintaining a drug trafficking place, and possession of a firearm by a felon. Those charges were read-in and dismissed.
Johnson was arrested Nov. 24, 2017, two days after 40-year-old Nicholas J. Buck was found deceased at his Chippewa Falls' home of a suspected drug overdose. Law enforcement officials believe that Johnson supplied the drugs to Buck.
The charges also state Johnson provided drugs to 28-year-old Samuel Ott, who died in Eau Claire on Nov. 18, 2017.
When Johnson's home was searched, officers found 238 grams of meth, 432 grams of marijuana, 23.1 grams of heroin, 21.1 grams of cocaine, 284 vials of what officers believed to be steroids, and multiple bags of unknown powders.
The meth was analyzed and determined to be 98 percent pure.
Because a crowd of 40 people attended the sentencing, the hearing was relocated to the largest courtroom in the building. Several people spoke prior to Gibbs' ruling.
Buck's mother, Jean Buck, told Gibbs that her family has struggled since his death.
"There are no words that can describe what one phone call can have on a family. Our family has went through depression, nightmares, counseling," she said.
She described Johnson and Buck as friends, and Buck was always there to help out Johnson. But in the end, Buck meant nothing to Johnson, she said. She asked Gibbs to order the maximum sentence, consecutive to the 20-year sentence for drugs.
"Because of Johnson's illegal and irresponsible actions, two young men died," she said. "We've waited three-and-a-half years to see justice be done."
Catherine Friederich, Ott's mother, held up a large photo of her son, which is the last one she has of him.
"My son Samuel was 28 when he died," Friederich said. "I will never know why he used drugs on the day he died. As a parent, I am left feeling totally helpless. I have been robbed of a future with Sam, and I'm very angry about that."
Friederich also urged Gibbs to order the maximum sentence.
"It is the responsible of this court to hold him responsible," she said.
Karen Nelson, Johnson's mother, asked for leniency, saying her son has an addiction and needs help, not lengthy incarceration. Nelson showed the court pictures of Johnson's two young children, and said they need their father. She asked that any sentence be concurrent to his 20-year drug sentence, suggesting a lifetime of probation after that.
"We couldn't afford the rehab for Shane," Nelson said. "You always hear that there is help out there, but unless you have $20,000 or $30,000, that isn't true."
On March 6, 2018, Johnson pleaded guilty to possessing 50 grams or more of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. In May 2020, he was sentenced to serve 20 years in a federal prison.
Johnson had two prior drug offense convictions. Online court records show Johnson was convicted in 2009 in Chippewa County Court of second-degree reckless injury and possession of meth, and he was ordered to serve a four-year prison sentence, along with another four years of extended supervision. He also has been convicted of criminal trespass, obstructing an officer, bail jumping, escape, and drunken driving on four occasions.
The Department of Justice was handling just the drug offenses and not the death investigations.
Johnson's girlfriend, 41-year-old April J. Lonetree, was arrested alongside Johnson, but her matter wasn't transferred to federal court. Lonetree pleaded guilty in September 2019 to possession of meth and illegally obtained prescriptions, maintaining a drug trafficking place and resisting or obstruction an officer. She was placed on four years of probation.
