Midlothian Man Charged With Selling Fatal Ecstasy Dose to Chicago Cop's Stepdaughter

CHICAGO, IL — A Midlothian man was charged with selling a fatal dose of ecstasy to an 18-year-old Mt. Greenwood woman who overdosed in May 2015, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Brent Tyssen, 22, was arrested on Sept. 23 and charged with drug-induced homicide. Bail for the Midlothian man was set at $400,000 during a bond hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building on Saturday.

Sydney Schergen was a standout athlete at Queen of Peace High School in Burbank, where she graduated in 2015. She had just signed up to play volleyball for Moraine Valley Community College. On May 30, 2015, Schergen met her cousin and Tyssen at an apartment in Midlothian, where prosecutors said Tyssen sold Schergen a gram of ecstasy, also known as MDMA or molly, for $100.

Prosecutors said that Tyssen weighed the drug out and gave “detailed instructions” on how to use it. Both Tyssen and Schergen’s cousin expressed concern because the “molly” was so pure, according to the Sun-Times.

A friend waiting outside to take Schergen home to Mt. Greenwood said the teen admitted to taking the molly, prosecutors said. Schergen had already started exhibiting symptoms of the drug; her eyes were dilated and she was acting strangely, her friend recalled.

The next morning, when Schergen’s father went to wake her up, she did not respond and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The original investigation was inconclusive, but Schergen’s stepmother, a Chicago police gang tactical officer, pressed that Schergen’s death be investigated as a drug-induced homicide.

Tyssen allegedly admitted to selling Schergen the drug. Her cousin, who was only 17 at the time, has also been charged as a juvenile in Schergen’s death.

The Midlothian apartment where Schergen bought the ecstasy was notorious for drug abuse. In November, another woman, Kimberly Putterlik, died of a drug overdose. Her roommate, Alexander Acevedo, allegedly stuffed her body into a suitcase and hid it in a storage area because he was afraid of being evicted.

Her stepmother told the Sun-Times Schergen was a sensitive and compassionate girl, prone to depression after the loss of her mother when she was three and sexual abuse at the hands of a relative, who was never charged.

Tyssen is due back in court Sept. 26.