Wade Smith gets 14 years

PRESS RELEASE

November 10, 2009

STATE’S ATTORNEY SECURES 14 YEAR PRISON SENTENCE IN DRUG CASE INVOLVING DEATH

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, is pleased to announce that Defendant Wade R. Smith pleaded guilty to the offense of Unlawful Delivery of a Controlled Substance, a Class 2 Felony, and was sentenced to 14 years in the Department of Corrections. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed charges of Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance, Class 4 Felony, and Drug Induced Homicide, Class X Felony. Smith was eligible for extended term sentencing on the Class 2 Delivery charge and was sentenced to the maximum term of 14 years.

Smith was originally charged with delivering an unknown amount of heroin to Kendrick L. Vogt. Autopsy findings revealed that Kendrick L. Vogt died as a result of the heroin ingestion. In statements to law enforcement, Smith repeatedly denied delivering heroin directly to Vogt but admitted to possessing and delivering the substance to Vogt’s girlfriend. Vogt’s girlfriend discovered him on the morning of March 22, 2009 and observed that he was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead after paramedics responded to a 911 call placed by Vogt’s girlfriend.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Phillip Hiscock who is assigned to the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division.