A grand jury indicted a Tavernier man on a first-degree homicide cost for his alleged position within the overdose dying of Key Largo resident Adam Halenza final yr.
Monroe County State Lawyer Dennis Ward mentioned Monday {that a} Monroe County grand jury returned an indictment on March 27 charging Michael Patrick Stevens, 41, with first-degree homicide in reference to the July 24, 2024 overdose dying of Halenza.
The indictment states Stevens, an area landscaper, unlawfully distributed counterfeit tablets containing fentanyl, which had been a proximate explanation for Halenza’s dying. The cost is pursuant to Florida Statute 782.04(1)(a)3(b) and/or (g) — which permits for first-degree homicide fees when a dying outcomes from the illegal distribution of a managed substance.
An investigation by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Workplace and investigators from the State Lawyer’s Workplace states Halenza’s longtime companion, Renee Szczudlik, referred to as 911 after discovering him unresponsive in a indifferent rest room at their residence. Szczudlik admitted throughout interviews that she had bought eight tablets from Stevens earlier that afternoon for $80 after operating into him at a Key Largo procuring plaza. She later offered detectives with the 4 remaining tablets, which Florida Division of Regulation Enforcement lab exams confirmed contained fentanyl.
Video surveillance from a 7-Eleven in Tavernier corroborated Szczudlik’s account, displaying her assembly Stevens shortly earlier than the transaction happened. Location information from Szczudlik’s cellphone matched her assertion, inserting her on the Save Coin Laundromat, 7-Eleven, Stevens’ residence and eventually her dwelling.
Textual content messages and name logs extracted from each Szczudlik’s and Stevens’ telephones additional confirmed the coordination of the drug deal. Regardless of Stevens’ preliminary denials throughout a recorded interview, recovered deleted messages contradicted his statements and instantly referenced the overdose.
In a single message despatched by Szczudlik on July 25, 2024, she wrote: “No worries take your time I’ve lots of calls to make Adam died final night time.”
The Monroe County Medical Examiner, Dr. Michael Steckbauer, decided the reason for dying to be combined drug toxicity (cocaine and fentanyl) and acknowledged that the extent of every substance independently constituted a deadly dose. The style of dying was dominated unintentional, however beneath Florida legislation, Stevens’ position within the distribution of the fentanyl-containing tablets legally helps the first-degree homicide cost, officers mentioned.
“Individuals suppose they’re shopping for one factor and as a substitute they’re being handed a dying sentence,” mentioned State Lawyer Dennis Ward. “This case underscores the devastation fentanyl continues to carry to our communities. We won’t hesitate to carry drug sellers criminally answerable for the lives misplaced.”
“The quantity and high quality of the proof — surveillance footage, digital forensics and direct witness statements — tells a constant and compelling story,” added Chief Assistant State Lawyer Joseph Mansfield, who will likely be prosecuting the case. “This indictment is not only about one transaction. It’s a couple of group drawing a line towards these benefiting from poison.”
Halenza labored at Payfair in Islamorada for greater than 13 years and loved assembly folks, in response to an obituary posted shortly after his passing.
Stevens is being held with out bond pending arraignment. A listening to is scheduled for April 23 earlier than Circuit Court docket Decide James Morgan on the Plantation Key Courthouse.