WJJQ LOCAL NEWS
Mosinee man indicted in Merrill woman’s death
Thursday, February 4, 2010

A federal grand jury has indicted a Mosinee man in a Merrill woman’s heroin overdose last spring.

Richard Crayton supplied the heroin that killed Nicole Hedges on May 2, 2009, according to a federal indictment and Merrill Police Chief Ned Seubert.

Seubert says Crayton sold the drug to Kevin Krugel, who is also charged in Hedges death. An eyewitness testified at Krugel’s preliminary hearing last summer that Krugel admitted giving Hedges two lines of heroin as they drove to Merrill from Antigo.

Crayton pled not guilty to one count of delivery of heroin on Wednesday. A jury trial is set for May 24, 2010. He faces a minimum of 20 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Krugel is scheduled to enter a plea during a hearing on Friday, February 12 in Lincoln County Circuit Court to first-degree reckless homicide and delivery of heroin charges.

The Marathon County Special Investigations Unit arrested Crayton in the Wausau area after authorities issued a warrant last week.

Merrill Police Chief Ned Seubert said Crayton was one of the “main suppliers” of heroin in central Wisconsin.

(Thanks to Matt Lehman of WSAU AM 550 for this story)

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