INTERNET CONNECTION TO DRUG ACTIVITY POSSIBLE

N.B. Man Reportedly Had Drugs In His System At Death

WAUKESHA -- Area law enforcement say they have not seen any Internet
traffic connected with illegal drug use in the county although an ongoing
death investigation might explore just such a link.

New Berlin police this week sought medical records for two men admitted to
West Allis Memorial Hospital last month after they reportedly took some
form of opiate, court records showed.

According to documents filed in Waukesha County Circuit Court, Nicholas
Rizzi, 21, died in New Berlin on Dec. 9 after he stopped breathing. Opiates
were later found in Rizzi's system at the West Allis hospital. The cause of
Rizzi's death is pending while authorities await the return of autopsy test
results, a spokesperson for the Waukesha County Medical Examiner's Office
said Thursday.

But a 21-year-old man who was with Rizzi the night he died was admitted to
the hospital two days later with breathing difficulties. After his release
to the Waukesha County Mental Health Facility, that man told a police
officer he had ordered opiates over the Internet, a court affidavit said.

The man is not being named by the Freeman because he has not been charged
with a crime.

However, another person with that 21-year-old man the night before he was
admitted to the hospital reported that the man told him he had taken
morphine, the affidavit said.

New Berlin police Lt. David Dunn said police continue to investigate
Rizzi's death to see if it was suspicious, but declined to release further
information.

Dunn said New Berlin police had no hard data on whether Internet-related
drug dealing is a growing problem in that city.

"I don't know if we are seeing more of that," he said. "It doesn't surprise
me because the Internet is information, and whenever you have an
information system, people have proven they will engage in both legal and
illegal activity."

Assistant District Attorney Bill Roach, the lead prosecutor in the drug
unit of the Waukesha County District Attorney's office, said there was one
case a couple of years ago involving a person who arranged to pick up a
rave drug through the Internet. Other than that, he has seen no similar
incidents.

Waukesha County Sheriff's Capt. Eric Severson, commander of the county's
Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Unit, said he has heard of agencies in other
parts of the country working on Internet-related drug activity, but he has
seen none here.

"The Internet offers privacy that other trafficking purposes don't
provide," he said. "What you do on your computer, it's pretty hard for
other people to pay attention to, so unless we get complaints or a
situation like this where there is a death and where the investigation
turns in that direction, it's pretty hard to find out about that stuff."

Brian Huber can be reached bhuber@conleynet.com.