By Shereen Siewert
WAUSAU — A plea deal could be in the works for a 31-year-old woman accused of providing a lethal dose of drugs to a Wausau man who was found dead by a roommate on the city’s west side.
Ashley B. Szarkowitz is expected to appear Aug. 26 for a plea hearing in Marathon County Circuit Court, where she faces charges of first degree reckless homicide by delivery of drugs and manufacturing or delivering Schedule I or II narcotics. According to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections Szarkowitz is already on community supervision, part of a sentence handed down in November 2017 on charges of delivering amphetamine and bail jumping. She was released from prison less than a year ago.
According to the criminal complaint, police and rescue crews were called at 1:13 a.m. May 13 to a home in the 2900 block of Christian Avenue for a report of a 24-year-old man who was found unresponsive in a bathroom by his roommate. Paramedics administered two doses of Narcan to the man, but were not successful in reviving him. At 1:40 a.m., lifesaving efforts were discontinued and the man was pronounced dead, the police report states.
The victim’s roommate told police that earlier in the night the victim had been in his bedroom with a woman who left the residence when the body was discovered. Police were able to find Szarkowitz through a vehicle license plate number, according to court documents.
Szarkowitz allegedly admitted selling the victim $40 worth of heroin, which they smoked together, according to the police report. She also allegedly told her own roommate, “I gave someone heroin and they overdosed,” the report states.
Autopsy results show the victim, whose name is not indicated in the police report, died as a result of mixed drug and alcohol toxicity — a combination of “fentanyl, methamphetamine and ethanol,” court documents state. White powder discovered in the victim’s bedroom tested positive for fentanyl, police said.
Szarkowitz, who is in the Marathon County Jail on a probation hold, faces up to 40 years in the Wisconsin Prison System if she is convicted on the homicide charge alone. She could also spend an additional three years in prison in the 2017 case if her probation is revoked.
Circuit Judge Jill Falstad is presiding over the case.
