Adrian Starks, of Chicago and Madison, who is accused of being the source of the heroin which killed Sarah Stellner, 20, in May of 2005, and Michael Ace, 31, who died in April 2005. Both died after using heroin which was sold to friends of theirs by Lavinia Mull and Dennis Dickinson, heroin dealers in Madison who regularly used Starks as their source.
Starks is charged with two counts of first degree reckless homicide and one count of being involved in a conspiracy to sell heroin. Under Wisconsin law, anyone who is involved in the distribution of an illegal street drug that leads to the death of a user is subject to prosecution and Starks would be one of the few larger dealers to be prosecuted under the law.
Already convicted in the case were the people who bought the heroin used by Stellner, and the person who bought the heroin used by Ace. Those convictions subsequently led police to Mull and Dickinson, who were the dealers who sold the drugs. Cooperation by that pair led to the charges against Starks, who is alleged to have supplied Mull and Dickinson with the heroin they sold.
According to court documents, Starks repeatedly sold large amounts of heroin, in some cases 50 to 70 grams at a time, to Dickinson and Mull. That pair, who eventually were living together in Madison, would buy the drugs at $100 a gram from Starks then sell the heroin for $200 a gram to customers in Madison.
After the deaths of Stellner and Ace in 2005, Starks moved back to Chicago, according to statements given to police by Dickinson, but continued to sell heroin to Mull, and Dickinson spoke to detectives in late 2007 as he was striking a deal to get himself out of the homicide charge.
Dickinson told detectives that "everyone got spooked," when Mull was arrested in August of 2005 and for the deaths of Stellner and Ace. Dickinson told detectives that he called Starks to tell him Mull was under arrest in the deaths and Starks "said something to the effect of 'people die all the time. No big deal. It's part of the game,' " according to a police report of the interview with Dickinson, which was released today.
Dickinson also said that Starks made veiled threats to keep Mull from telling police who her source for heroin was. Adding to Dickinson's problem was a burglary at his sister's apartment, where Dickinson had kept $30,000 in drug proceeds in a safe which was taken during a burglary. That meant he did not have cash to either hire a lawyer for Mull or post her bail to get her out of jail.
Starks helped out by giving Dickinson 15 grams of heroin which he could sell and use the profit to get Mull an attorney or post her bail, the police report says.
Even after Mull was arrested, however, Dickinson kept selling heroin in Madison and kept buying it from Starks in Chicago, he told police. After joining forces with another Madison man he would go to Chicago to buy the drugs and he complained to Starks that the gas station where they made their deals was in rough area of town and was full of gang members who, like Starks, were members of the Mickey Cobras gang. Starks then changed to location of the sales to motel room in a safer area.
On one occasion, Dickinson told detectives, he and another Madison man met Starks at his home on Wolcott Street in Chicago where Starks sold them 50 or 70 grams of heroin, and set up a deal which enabled them to buy $2,500 worth of cocaine. Dickinson told police he thought the man who supplied Starks was also present at that deal, but did not know the man's name, only that he drove a dark colored two-door Jaguar which was parked outside.
Mull was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in the death of Stellner, who had recently moved to Madison from Crawford County and used the heroin at a party in downtown Madison. But before she was sentenced in the Ace death, he was a longtime addict who died of an overdose in the downtown Madison apartment he shared with another man, Mull decided to talk. She was sentenced to an additional three years in prison for Ace's death.
Dickinson also agreed to talk and he pleaded no contest Jan. 24 to a charge of distributing heroin, while the homicide charge against him was dropped. When he sentenced later the prosecution has agreed to recommend that he be given concurrent time to the 200 month federal charge he is currently serving on a conviction for distributing cocaine.
Assistant District Attorney Brian Asmus is prosecuting the case against Starks, while Starks is being defended by attorney Randall Skiles. The trial, in which Dane County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Fiedler is presiding, is expected to run two weeks.
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