Holiday Hills man gets 10 years in prison for fatal overdose of McHenry resident

A Holiday Hills man charged in connection with the fatal overdose of a McHenry man was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison.

Joel W. Tynis, 39, pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of 15 to 100 grams of heroin, a Class 1 felony, according to the judgment order in McHenry County court.

He was initially charged in 2022 with drug-induced homicide along with possession with intent to deliver 15 to 100 grams of fentanyl, according to the criminal complaint and indictment. Had he been convicted of one of those Class X felonies, he could have been sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.

Tynis is required to serve half of his prison term followed by one year of supervised mandatory release, according to the judgment order.

He was charged in connection with the fatal fentanyl overdose of Scott Rzepka, 52, who died Jan. 6, 2022.

According to court records, witnesses told police that Tynis sold narcotics to Rzepka around the same time. Rzepka died after ingesting drugs, and his cause of death was listed as the adverse effects of heroin, fentanyl and etizolam, McHenry County Coroner Michael Rein said Tuesday. Etizolam is used to treat insomnia, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder.

The witnesses also said they had bought narcotics from Tynis “on multiple other occasions,” according to court records. When he was arrested in connection with Rzepka’s death, authorities said he had in his possession ”approximately 77 individual bags of a powder," which field-tested positive for the presumptive presence of fentanyl, according to the court motion.

Without the packaging material, the powder weighed 27 grams, according to the motion. When police searched Tynis’s home, they found packaging materials, a marijuana grow station, scales and multiple bags of suspected fentanyl, according to the motion.

Tynis will receive credit for 1,153 days in the McHenry County jail since his arrest, plus 104 days for time involved in self-improvement programs, working or volunteering, according to the order. His attorney declined to comment.