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A woman accused of selling a fatal dose of heroin and fentanyl to a man at a Spring Grove gas station pleaded guilty Friday to a possession charge and was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.
Tina L. Meltzer, 52, of Fox Lake, pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to deliver less than a gram of heroin, a Class 2 felony.
Meltzer initially was charged with three counts of drug-induced homicide, Class X felonies that can carry up to 30 years in prison, according to McHenry County court records.
Meltzer is required to serve at least half of her sentence. She will receive credit for the 623 days she has spent in the county jail, plus 36 days, a half-day credit for each day she spent working in jail. After she is released from prison, she will serve one year of mandatory supervised release, according to the sentencing order.
Her attorney, Assistant Public Defender Richard Behof, declined to comment other than to say the sentence is fair.
During the sentencing hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Fara Momen read a letter from the mother of the man who died, Jeffrey Beese, 39, of Spring Grove. The letter described the “permanent reality” of the loss and anguish she and her family – including his five children – have felt since the loss of her ”baby.”
She described her youngest of four as being “full of love and ambition, my hardest-working son.”
“He never turned anyone away that needed help,” she said. “He was the father of five beautiful children. ... All miss him and need him dearly.
“Since the tragedy of his death, our entire family has been torn to pieces, especially the kids. ... Because of the willingness of the defendant to pedal poison for profit, Jeff can’t be and will never be able to see them grow up.”
On Sept. 23, 2021, authorities said Meltzer delivered heroin and fentanyl to Beese in exchange for cash at a gas station, according to a motion filed in McHenry County court.
Beese went into the bathroom of the gas station, and Meltzer left, allegedly retrieved a “rock” and returned. She gave the “rock” to a gas station employee and said to give it to the man in the bathroom, according to the motion.
After leaving the gas station, Beese was in a car crash. When paramedics arrived, they used naloxone – which, if given quickly enough, can reverse an opioid overdose – and was taken to the hospital, according to the motion.
His mother picked him up from the hospital and drove him home to where he lived with his ex-wife. Later that morning, before she left home, she found Beese lying on the bedroom floor and thought he was sleeping, according to the motion.
When his mother could not reach him by phone, she went to the house and found him on the floor. Police arrived and found a “rock-like substance in a small plastic baggie” on the floor nearby. The substance later tested positive for heroin and fentanyl, according to the motion.
Beese’s cause of death was determined to be the adverse effects of heroin and fentanyl, authorities said.
In noting that the state was required to sentence Meltzer based on state law and that she still will have a life after her time is served, Beese’s mother asked the judge to impose “a sentence worthy of fairness to our family.”
As her son lay dying, she said, “he could not plea bargain, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak. He was helpless. The defendant still has a shot to become part of society.”