Sheboygan man sentenced to prison for heroin overdose
A 23-year-old Sheboygan man was sentenced Wednesday to prison for selling heroin that led to a fatal overdose nearly a year ago.
Sheboygan County Circuit Court Judge L. Edward Stengel sentenced Taylor J. Shannon, 20 Elmwood Drive, to four years in prison followed by six years extended supervision. Shannon also was ordered to pay $1,318.80.
Shannon was charged last summer with first-degree reckless homicide/delivery of drugs — a felony charge that carries a maximum of 71/2 years in prison.
According to a criminal complaint:
Sheboygan police responded to a call shortly before 10 p.m. on April 18, 2014, from a residence at 1209 North Ave. reporting the death of 30-year-old Kael R. Klassen. A coroner later determined Klassen had died sometime in the afternoon of a possible drug overdose.
Klassen’s roommate made the emergency call and told police that Klassen had returned two days prior from a rehabilitation center in Florida where he was being treated for an opiate addiction.
Detectives found numerous texts on Klassen’s phone sent between 10 and 11:43 a.m. the morning of his death from a number belonging to Shannon. The texts included discussion of a possible drug deal.
The roommate also told police that Shannon had tried multiple times on April 19 to contact him to discuss Klassen’s death.
When police questioned Shannon, he admitted to trying to arrange a heroin exchange for Klassen, but he said he never actually delivered the drugs. He also admitted to being in the same room with Klassen the morning he died but said Klassen was already “messed up” on drugs before he arrived.
A search of Shannon’s phone connected investigators to another man who told police that Shannon was known to be someone who could get drugs and he observed Shannon “freaking out” when Shannon found out about Klassen’s death. The man also said Shannon admitted to him that he lied to the rommate about not selling heroin to Klassen.
Shannon is one of a handful of individuals in Sheboygan County to be charged since January of last year with homicide in a heroin overdose death. Prior to 2014, only two people had ever been tried in the county for a fatal heroin overdose.