Fatal Heroin Dose Leads Man to be Charged Under State's 'Len Bias' Law

WISCONSIN -- Prosecutors charged a man with homicide after he reportedly provided a heroin dose that led to the death of the man who bought - and later shared - his own drugs.

Police say that man, Mark Glisczinski, has been charged under Wisconsin's "Len Bias Law," a law that is being used more and more now that the heroin epidemic is claiming more lives.

Mark Glisczinksi of Milwaukee has been charged with First Degree Reckless Homicide under Wisconsin's Len Bias law, which holds drug dealers accountable in cases involving fatal drug overdoses.

The Overdose

According to his criminal complaint, Cudahy police responded to an apartment on the 5000 block of Packard Ave. on a report of a deceased individual. The victim, Erick Treu, was located deceased on the floor of the living room near a coffee table.

The Cudahy Fire Department was on scene at the time of the Police Officers' arrival. Upon speaking with police, first responders on-scene said Treu appeared to have been deceased for several days, his complaint stated.

The criminal complaint stated that inside the apartment, officers located several items indicative of heroin use. On the coffee table, the following items were located:

• One open, corner-cut bag
• A small mound of a gray/tan-colored, powdery substance (suspected heroin)
• An uncapped syringe
• A cap from a syringe
• Pieces of corner-cut bags in an ashtray

The Len Bias Law

The Len Bias law was signed into law in Wisconsin in 1988. The law was named college basketball star Len Bias, who overdosed on cocaine mere days after he was drafted into the NBA in 1986.
According to a FOX 6 report, most district attorneys in southeastern Wisconsin agree that it was rarely used until recently.
FOX 6 reported that in Milwaukee County alone, there were 255 overdose deaths in 2015 with 16 of them resulting in prosecutions under Len Bias. And in Waukesha County, there were 44 overdose deaths in 2015, five of which resulted in charges.

Glisczinski Implicated in Overdose Case

According to the criminal complaint, when investigators reviewed Treu's cell phone records, it showed a series of text messages between he and Glisczinski, and Treu and Tae - an alleged drug dealer that Glisczinski reported to - just before Treu's apparent death.

Investigators conducted an interview with Glisczinski, who told police how the deal went down, police stated.

According to the complaint, Glisczinksi told police that Tae instructed him to sell Treu a "short bag" of heroin on approximately Jan. 25, and that Treu would be stopping by to make the purchase. That evening, Treu came to the 11th St Apartment in Milwaukee, where he bought the "short bag" of heroin just as Tae had asked Glisczinski to.

According to Glisczinksi's criminal complaint, Treu - who had been buying drugs from him for about a month, returned to the apartment and complained of being "shorted." Glisczinski reportedly gave up some of his own heroin to make up for the low amount that the decedent purchased. Glisczinski indicated that Treu paid $60, but was sold only $40 worth of heroin.

The next day, Treu did not show up to his son's school to pick him up at the end of the day. Three days later, police found Treu, deceased on his apartment floor - and it appeared he had been dead for days, police reported.

According to investigators, by mid-March, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office provided the final cause of death reports. They determined the final cause of Treu's death was acute mixed drug toxicity (alprazolam, cocaine, diphenhydramine, fentanyl, and heroin).

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