On November 16, 2016, Gregory J. Haanstad, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced Donald Harden of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin has been found guilty of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin.
The jury also found beyond a reasonable doubt that the conspiracy involved at least 100 grams of heroin, which Harden distributed, resulting in the overdose death of Neenah resident Frederick J. Schnettler in September 2014.
A press release from the U.S. Department of Justice Green Bay Division says that Harden purchased kilograms of heroin in Chicago, Illinois and used a "stash house" in Watertown, Wisconsin to repackage the heroin for distribution in the Fox Valley area and elsewhere.
Throughout the late Spring and Summer of 2014, Harden would deliver heroin to mid-level distributors in the Fox Valley. Those distributors would then deal smaller amounts to numerous heroin users throughout the area.
On September 14, 2014 Harden arranged a meeting with one of his Fox Valley distributors at a retail parking lot in Waupun, Wisconsin. At that meeting, Harden gave 11 grams of heroin to one of his co-conspirators warning her to "be careful with this stuff, it's got bodies on it."
That heroin was later used by Schnettler and others, resulting in his death from "acute heroin toxicity" according to the medical examiner.
Another overdose death linked to Harden's heroin was discovered by Winnebago County Sheriff's investigators days later.
