WA-- A 46-year-old Burlington woman accused of teaching her teenage son how to shoot heroin was charged Monday in connection with his death from an overdose.
Patricia L. Strosina was charged with intentionally contributing to the delinquency of a child resulting in death in connection with the death of her 16-year-old son Raymond Strosina, according to a criminal complaint.
The boy was found by his father in the father's home in the Town of Waterford on Sept. 14, slumped over a desk in a basement computer room, according to the complaint. A syringe, a burned spoon and other drug paraphernalia were found nearby.
Online state court records indicate the boy's parents divorced in 2005.
An autopsy determined that Raymond died of respiratory arrest and a mixed drug overdose that included heroin and cocaine.
According to the complaint, several people, including a "case worker," told an investigator with the Racine County Sheriff's Department that the teen had been shooting heroin with his mother.
The complaint does not give any details about the case worker's identity or affiliation, and a spokesman for the sheriff's department spokesman was not available for comment.
The sheriff's department investigator was told that Patricia Strosina would take her son along with her to buy heroin and that she would "not cut Ray off because he would get sick" from withdrawal.
The investigator also was told that the boy was seen smoking marijuana when he was about 14 years old, that his mother taught him how to shoot heroin, and that she was seen injecting her son with the drug.
The woman also was seen smoking marijuana and crack cocaine with the boy, according to the complaint.
One witness described how Strosina, her son and others would shoot up in Strosina's car after a drug run and how the only conversation that took place in the vehicle would be about "who would get the first needle and who would get the last bit of heroin."
According to the complaint, Patricia Strosina admitted to using heroin and OxyContin, a prescription pain medication, but she said she and her son were "getting off" heroin. She also admitted taking him with her to Milwaukee to buy heroin and said the last time she used the drug with her son was the weekend before his death.
She said on one occasion, after a drug buy, that she shot heroin while driving before passing it to her son in the back seat so he could use the drug.
She said she and her son typically would share about $20 worth of the drug at a time. The complaint did not indicate how much she or the boy used on a weekly basis.
The complaint says that the mother's actions "encouraged and contributed to Raymond Strosina's drug use, which eventually led to his death."
Online state court records show that cash bond for Patricia Strosina was set Monday at $15,000. The Racine County Jail Web site showed that she was being held at the jail.
If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
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