GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - A Green Bay man has been charged for his role in a fatal drug overdose last May.
19-year-old Quinten J. Austin is charged with party to the crime of first-degree reckless homicide/deliver drugs.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called to a home in the 2600 block of Hazelwood Lane around 11:20 a.m. on May 31, 2015 for a report of a man not breathing and that it was possibly drug related.
The victim was found dead, lying on a bed in the basement. Officials discovered drug paraphernalia in a drawer, including 3 spoons with residue on them, two empty syringes and a plastic baggie with white stuff inside.
A female friend of the victim told officers at the time that she was with him at the time he passed out and picked up the needle that was underneath his arm and put in inside a drawer.
When asked why she put the needle in the drawer, the woman said that she didn't want anyone to see the needles like her kids or the victim's parents.
The victim's female acquaintance and former girlfriend was tracked down by officers, since his female friend at the scene believed he got the drugs from her. During an interview, the former girlfriend said that the victim messaged her on Facebook the night before to see if she could score him some cocaine. She replied that all she could get was Suboxone, but later told him that she could get coke.
The ex-girlfriend picked up the victim and drove to a hotel room where the cocaine deal was to go down. At the hotel room, the victim paid $100 for two knotted baggie corners containing a powder substance. The powder apparently looked a little dark for cocaine, but they went into the bathroom intending to shoot up. They both were pretty sure after adding water to the powder that it was heroin, not cocaine.
The victim then told the drug contact that he didn't want the heroin, that he wanted cocaine instead or his money back. The drug contact called a dealer she knew, who told her to contact his cousin later identified as Quinten Austin.
Austin sells drugs for his cousin, per the complaint, and agreed to meet with them at a location away from the hotel, but not alone. Austin and the drug contact sat in the back seat of her car, as he brought out two larger baggies; one that was supposed to be cocaine and the other heroin. She told Austin that she noticed both looked to be the same, heroin, and Austin replied that it was all he had. Austin refused to give the money back, so the victim ended up keeping the heroin.
On June 30, 2015, police officers pulled over a vehicle because it was wanted for a hit-and-run accident the week before. The driver was asked for his license, and was identified as Quinten Austin. The officer could smell a faint odor of raw marijuana while leaning through the car window. Austin and a male passenger both had outstanding warrants.
As Austin was sitting in the back of the squad car, the complaint states that he was, "Squirming excessively." A search of Austin found a small clear plastic baggie with a green plant-like material inside his pants. Austin told the cop, "I just smoke weed."
Later on in the booking area of the jail, Austin continued to squirm. Officers believed he was trying to conceal more items. Austin was taken to a strip search room, where officers found clear plastic baggies containing a gray rock-like substance in 2 separate stone-like pieces. Another clear plastic baggie had 2 corner baggies tied off in knots which had a crystalline substance. All this was inside a "pocket area" in the front of Austin's boxers.
The complaint states that field tests confirmed the green plant-like material weighed 0.8 grams with packaging and tested positive for marijuana. The two rock-like pieces weighed 0.3 grams and tested positive for the presence of heroin. The white crystalline shards weighed 0.8 grams with packaging and tested positive for the presence of amphetamines.
A statement given by Austin to a detective indicates that his cousin got him to run heroin for him. Austin admits he started selling heroin early last year. "He would give me the heroin and would tell me where to go and who to meet. He would give me money to do that, but the most I ever got from was $10 for doing that. He then gave me a phone and would give me the heroin and people would call me and I would sell them the heroin. I would give the money to him and he would give me more heroin to sell. I never got to keep the money myself, I would give it back to him and then he would sometimes give me a little money or buy me something to eat."
During further investigation, officers determined that Quinten Austin was dealing drugs under his cousin, who's considered the primary drug dealer in the case. Austin told an investigator that he, "Sold heroin for his cousin and that his cousin was his only source of heroin in Green Bay."
Quinten Austin is due to be arraigned on his charge of first-degree reckless homicide/deliver drugs, party to the crime, on March 7. If convicted, Austin faces up to 40 years in prison.
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