Two Sentenced For Alton Heroin Overdose Death

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today that Tyrone L. Adams, 33, and Cara L. Moss, 26, were each sentenced in United States District Court in East St. Louis on Monday, April 22, 2013, for selling the heroin which caused the overdose death of Leonard O. Hormann, III.

Adams, of Alton, IL, received a sentence of 15 years. Moss, also of Alton, received a sentence of 10 years.

Adams and Moss pled guilty on January 14, 2013 to selling heroin to Hormann in Alton on August 20, 2012. Hormann was 23 years old when he died.

“These severe federal prison sentences should put drug dealers on notice that they peddle heroin at their own risk, and those risks are considerable. My office will continue its initiative to stop the heroin overdose death epidemic among our young citizens. The prosecution and sentencing of Adams and Moss are just a part of our ongoing anti-heroin initiative,” said United States Attorney Wigginton.

Wigginton especially commended the work of the Alton Police Department. “The Alton Police investigation in this case was as good as any I have seen. I am also proud that these convictions resulted from close coordination between my office and the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office,” said Wigginton.

Adams also received concurrent 15 year sentences for “Maintaining Drug-Involved Premises” at his Powhattan Street residence in Alton, IL, and for “Distribution of Heroin Within 1000 Feet of a School,” that being The Motivational Achievement Center, a public school in Alton.

Moss also received a concurrent 10 year sentence for “Maintaining Drug-Involved Premises” at the residence she shared with Adams in Alton, between June and September 2012.

Close family members of the late Leonard O. Hormann, III spoke at the sentencing hearings on April 22, 2013. Each of those family members spoke of their grief and continuing sense of loss.

At her sentencing hearing on Monday, Moss told the Court that “I started with drinking in high school, then marijuana, cocaine, then pain pills, and finally heroin. I went to rehab and failed. Now I’ve lost my kids because of the terrible choices I made. I just wish I could take it all back.”

The investigation that resulted in the successful prosecutions of Adams and Moss was conducted by the Alton Police Department.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert L. Garrison.