St. Paul woman brought here on charges for fatal Altoona heroin overdose
May 16—ALTOONA — A 33-year-old woman has been brought from Minnesota to the Eau Claire County Jail while she faces charges for supplying heroin to an Altoona man who suffered a fatal overdose in early 2020.
Chelsey R. Leith was arrested by the U.S. Marshall's Fugitive Task Force on April 28 in St. Paul, according to a news release from the Altoona Police Department. She was taken into custody alongside Bret R. Lott, 31, who is facing similar charges of supplying drugs that led to a woman's overdose death in 2019 in Roseville, Minn.
Leith was extradited to Wisconsin on Tuesday and had her initial appearance in Eau Claire County Court the following day. Judge John Manydeeds set Leith's bond at $20,000 cash. As of Friday morning, she remained in the Eau Claire County Jail, according to its daily roster.
The Eau Claire County District Attorney's Office charged Leith in January with a count of first-degree reckless homicide and two felony bail jumping charges.
The charges came after a lengthy investigation into the Feb. 3, 2020 death of a 26-year-old Altoona man at a home on the 1100 block of Hayden Avenue.
According to the criminal complaint, the man had been living at his grandmother's house since July 2019. His grandmother was aware her grandson had used heroin in the past, but thought he had been off the drug for two to three years. The man's parents later told police that he was trying to recover from his heroin habit without medical help by taking medications he did not have prescriptions for.
At 6 p.m. on the day of the overdose, the grandmother had seen her grandson sitting in a chair in his bedroom, but believed he'd fallen asleep. When she went up to check on him at about 9:50 p.m., the grandmother found her grandson lying on the floor of his room.
The man's family called 911 at 9:54 p.m. to report he had no pulse and was not breathing. An officer noted the man was cold and rigid to the touch. The medical examiner arrived later and declared the man dead at 11:51 p.m.
Altoona Police officers found drug paraphernalia in the man's room, including a box of syringes. Some containers with marijuana and a bag with a brown-colored powder that tested positive for heroin were also found.
A Feb. 4, 2020 autopsy of the man found needle injection marks on his arms and fluid inside his lungs. The doctor performing the autopsy said the man very likely died of an illegal drug overdose and there was no other probable cause of death.
Toxicology results showed there were lethal levels of heroin and fentanyl in the man's blood when he died, as well as the presence of THC — a chemical found in marijuana.
Police reviewed the dead man's Facebook Messenger conversations and found he'd exchanged numerous messages to Leith on the day of his death to arrange a drug buy.
The police investigation also included reviewing multiple electronic devices, interviewing over 30 people, comparing evidence to other overdose deaths at the time and checking other electronic records, according to an Altoona Police Department news release. The investigation found that Leith had been delivering heroin that she was aware made people overdose, the release stated.
When the charges were filed against Leith for the overdose death, she was already out on bond because of two pending narcotics possession cases in Dunn County, which prompted the two bail jumping charges against her.
Leith's next court appearance in the overdose case is a preliminary hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
