MONROE — Bond has been reduced to $20,000 for a Brodhead man accused of supplying the drugs that killed an Albany man last June.
Shannon J. Woollums, age 52 of Brodhead, and Matthew B. Riese, 45, of Albany, both are accused of providing opioids that led to the death of a 37-year-old earlier this year, according to a criminal complaint filed in Green County Circuit Court.
According to court records, Riese’s jury trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 6. His bond was set at $50,000, according to court records.
Woollums bond was reduced from the initial $30,000 bond during a hearing before Circuit Judge Faun Phillipson on Thursday.
The incident leading to the arrests began on June 1, 2023, just before 3:55 p.m., with a 911 report of a medical emergency on 6th Street in Albany.
Deputies, Albany EMS and First Response and Green County EMS all were dispatched to the home for a report of a possible overdose. But despite attempting life-saving measures, those first responders were unable to revive the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene by the Green County Coroner’s Office, police said.
Another victim was apparently saved by two doses of Narcan while police were on the scene.
Woollums’ next appearance in circuit court is scheduled for Nov. 22.
Conditions of the lower bond include several restrictions — among them a prohibition from contacting the victim or the co-defendant; and not possessing any controlled substances. Woollums also cannot leave the state without the permission of the court.
The case is one of several in the region related to deadly opiates, including Fentanyl. There have been a least three cases in Green and Lafayette counties over the past year or so involving defendants charged with supplying fentanyl in overdose deaths of reported drug users.
In one such case, Tre Creamer, a Madison-based rap artist, is accused of supplying the heroin/opiates that killed a 46-year-old female who died of an apparent overdose in Argyle in 2022. In Monroe, Levi Janssens is awaiting trial for supplying the alleged fentanyl that killed a 32-year-old Monroe man in a local hotel room Aug. 23, 2022.
A Monroe native who was living in Verona at the time, Janssens faces reckless homicide charges, a class C Felony in Wisconsin, for his role in the incident.
Janssens is scheduled for a pre-trial conference in his case on Nov. 21. Creamer has a plea/sentencing hearing in Lafayette County Circuit Court on Dec. 18.
According to experts, Fentanyl, which is a nationwide problem, kills about 1,000 people each year in Wisconsin. It is so potent it takes an incredibly small amount to kill a human — about the amount that fits on a sharpened pencil head.