Wonder Lake man sentenced to 13 years in prison after 2016 heroin-dealing investigation

A Wonder Lake man at the center of what the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office called its largest single drug seizure was ordered Tuesday to serve 13 years in prison.

On July 26, 2016, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force served a search warrant in the 3900 block of Main Street in McHenry and said they recovered 6 ounces, or $36,000 worth, of heroin; two scales; packaging materials; and $963 in cash.

Brian M. Freund, 31, was arrested and faced felony drug charges in connection with the raid.

Freund originally pleaded not guilty to the charges, which threatened as many as 40 years in prison, but he turned himself in to the sheriff’s office shortly after and bonded out the same day.

It was a little more than six months later, however, that Freund again found himself behind bars after police reportedly found an additional $8,540 worth of drugs at his home in the 3500 block of East Wonder Lake Road, Wonder Lake.

On Tuesday, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the most recent charges filed against Freund if he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, charges that stemmed from the original 2016 investigation.

Freund accepted the plea deal and was sentenced to 13 years in prison, followed by three years of parole. He was joined in court by defense attorney Bruce Cowan.

Freund is required to serve 50 percent of his sentence, and he will receive credit for any time he has spent in the county jail while his cases awaited trial.

His arrest came on the heels of a yearlong effort by police and the state’s attorney’s office to get ahead of the countywide heroin epidemic, according to news releases issued at the time.

Freund previously served two years of probation after a 2006 conviction for possession of a controlled substance – his oldest drug-related charge in McHenry County, online records show.