Heroin overdose leads to sentence

Before a judge sentenced a Butler man Monday to more than four years in prison for supplying a fatal dose of heroin to his teenage friend, the victim's mother played a final phone message from her only son.

"I love you and I'm always thinking about you, Mom," said the voice of Billy Hronek, 16, who his mother found dead in a basement room of her house in January 2002.

Chase Zmijowski, 21, was sentenced to between four and 16 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.

Zmijowski, who has been in the Butler County Jail for the 19 months since he was arrested, could have received a maximum of 50 years in prison.

Butler County Judge Marilyn Horan also fined Zmijowski $3,600 and ordered him to pay $7,351 in restitution to cover the cost of Hronek's funeral. Hronek overdosed on heroin he and Zmijowski bought in Pittsburgh.

Zmijowski originally was charged with drug delivery resulting in death, which is classified as third-degree murder and has a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. He pleaded guilty in June to the lesser manslaughter charge.

Before being sentenced yesterday, Zmijowski apologized to Hronek's family.

"I am sorry," he said in court. "He was my friend. ... I do pray for the family and Billy every day."

The victim's mother, Patti Keffalas Hronek, said she has been "emotionally unstable" and "severely depressed" since her son's death. She said the boy's father died July 4 "of a broken heart."

She said the phone message and a few photographs were the only physical reminders of her son. She gave no details about the phone message.

She questioned why Zmijowski had supplied her son with "He-Man" heroin when he knew another youth had already suffered a nonfatal overdose from the same batch. She also said Zmijowski should have come to her when he knew Billy was sick.

"Due to your selfishness and negligence my son died," she said. "You were not his friend. Friends don't administer deadly drugs to each other."

Still, Keffalas Hronek said she hopes Zmijowski will come out of jail rehabilitated and turn the tragedy into something positive by working as a counselor to young drug addicts.

"They need support from people who know what it's like to have a drug problem," she said.

Keffalas Hronek said that, shortly before his death, Billy had earned his GED and enrolled in Butler County Community College, and he hoped to eventually earn a psychology degree and help others who had drug problems.

"He was on the right track," she said.

Keffalas Hronek read from a letter Billy wrote, in which he talked about getting involved with drugs, saying "I decided to run down the darkest of paths."

Defense attorney Charlie Nedz said it was Billy Hronek who called Zmijowski on the night of his death and asked Zmijowski to get him heroin.

"Certainly there was no malice (by Zmijowski)," Nedz said. "He used the same heroin Mr. Hronek used."

He described Zmijowski as a high school graduate with carpentry training and, before he went to jail, a full-time job.

"I believe Mr. Zmijowski is salvageable," Nedz said. "He is also a victim, a heroin addict."

Before handing down the sentence, Horan noted that Zmijowski always carried himself well in the courtroom.

"I know there's remorse there. There's also consequences," she told him. "You have a full life ahead of you. It's up to you to turn it around."