Fatal Drug Overdose Leads to Delivery Charge

A Menomonee Falls man is accused of delivering heroin after overdosed and died in Waukesha in February 2012.

James J. Howard, 25, was charged Monday in Waukesha County Circuit Court with heroin delivery. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and $50,000 in fines.

Herzog was found dead at an apartment in the 300 block of South Street on Feb. 8, 2012, just after 10 a.m. by his girlfriend and then Waukesha firefighters who were responding to a report of a drug overdose. Herzog’s girlfriend told police she tried reaching him via the phone and when he didn’t respond to text messages and phone calls, she forced her way into the apartment when she found him, according to the complaint.

A Waukesha police officer located two cell phones in Herzog’s pockets, a needle in the kitchen sink and a metal container with white cotton in it, a syringe, aluminum foil and a cigarette pack wrapper. The girlfriend told officers was a heroin user, and the State Crime Lab found traces of heroin in the syringe, according to the complaint.

A Waukesha detective looked at the phones and found Herzog had been texting Howard, asking him to supply him with heroin from a man named “Lil Cuz” in Milwaukee County, the complaint states.

Howard admitted to police Feb. 9 that he arranged the purchase between Herzog and “Lil Cuz.” After they got the drugs, Howard told police, Howard took two “dubs” and Herzog took two “dubs” and they played pool at Howard’s before Herzog left Howard’s home, according to the complaint.