Elgin Man Gets Prison Time For St. Charles Man's Death: Prosecutor

ST. CHARLES, IL – A 28-year-old Elgin man has been sentenced to spend up to nine years in prison for selling fentanyl-laced heroin to a St. Charles man who ended up dying after taking the drugs, prosecutors announced on Monday.

Jose R. Charles agreed to the prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to drug-induced homicide, Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said in a news release. Charles faced criminal charges in connection with the death of Trevor Brubaker.

Brubaker, 25, drove to Charles’ workplace after he agreed to purchase heroin from Charles after communicating via text message, prosecutors said. He purchased three bags of heroin for $50 and then returned to his home in St. Charles and ingested the drugs, prosecutors said.

Brubaker was later found dead in his bathroom and prosecutors said that a chemical analysis of the drugs indicated the presence of the synthetic opioid fentanyl in the heroin. An autopsy found that Brubaker died of fentanyl intoxication.

Charles has multiple convictions on drug offenses dating to 2012, prosecutors said.

Charles must serve at least 75 percent of the sentence. Charles receives credit for 1,091 days served in the Kane County jail, where he had been held since his arrest in lieu of $500,000 bail.

“The offense of drug-induced homicide is a tool for law enforcement to use to combat drug dealing that results in overdose deaths,” Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Kelly Orland said in a news release. “It punishes and holds accountable those who unlawfully deliver drugs to another. In many cases, the drug dealer continues to push the drugs at users who are trying to get clean.”