Convicted Drug Dealer Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison for Selling Heroin That Caused Death of Fellow Bedford Man
10/23/2020
CLEVELAND – Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley announced that Mark Wisniewski, 43, was sentenced for selling heroin that caused the death of a 59-year-old Bedford man in March 2015.
“The opioid epidemic has taken far too many lives leaving families and friends struggling to cope with the loss of loved ones,” said Prosecutor O’Malley. “Every time we can put an individual like this behind bars, whose actions have caused the death of multiple victims, our community becomes a safer place.”
On March 11, 2015, the victim’s mother called 911 after finding her son unresponsive in the basement of their Bedford residence near Edgewood Avenue and Mapledale Avenue. Bedford Police and Emergency Medical Services responded and found the victim deceased of an apparent overdose. Officers then contacted investigators with the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office (CCMEO) and the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Heroin Overdose Taskforce to process the scene.
Suspected drugs, residue, and packaging collected at the scene tested positive for heroin and the CCMEO ruled the victim’s cause of death as a heroin overdose. A DNA profile was obtained from evidence on the scene but did not produce any matches in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) at the time.
In January 2018, the DNA profile hit in CODIS to Wisniewski after he was arrested and charged in Summit County for selling heroin that caused the death of a 22-year-old woman in Twinsburg. In that case, he was sentenced to eight years in prison after a jury found him guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter, Corrupting Another With Drugs, and Trafficking In Drugs.
In September 2020, Wisniewski waived his right to a jury trial in Cuyahoga County. Judge Dick Ambrose found him guilty of the following charges:
- One count of Involuntary Manslaughter
- One count of Corrupting Another With Drugs
- One count of Trafficking In Drugs
- One count of Drug Possession
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.