ACCUSED DEALER IN FATAL OVERDOSE USED BAR FOR SALES, POLICE SAY

Drug customers looking for heroin, cocaine or OxyContin could usually
find Ian Kies on a stool in an East Side Madison tavern from which
police said he ran his business.

An informant told police that he regularly saw a dozen or more
customers line up around noon in a bar just off Atwood Avenue, waiting
for Kies to arrive with narcotics concealed in a secret
Velcro-fastened pouch under the brim of his black baseball cap,
according to a criminal complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court.

Kies was in the Ohio Tavern, 224 Ohio Ave., when he sold heroin to the
informant, a long-time customer. The drugs caused the overdose death
of Cheryl Fosdal, 37, in October 2007 in an apartment in Stoughton.

Kies, 36, of Madison, was charged Wednesday with first-degree reckless
homicide in the death. Police consider him a suspect in another
overdose death in December, the complaint states. He is not charged in
the second death.

He is also charged with manufacturing or delivering cocaine, two
counts of manufacturing or delivering heroin, and possession of
heroin, marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms, all with intent to
deliver.

The reckless homicide charge was issued under Wisconsin's version of
the Len Bias law, in which providers of illegal drugs can be held
criminally responsible for the deaths of people who use them.

Kies had been free on $1,500 bail for a prior drug charge but now is
being sought on an arrest warrant issued Wednesday on the new homicide
and drug charges.

Whatever Kies did at the Ohio, it was without the knowledge of the
owner, Terre Sims, or her bartenders, Sims said.

"He never did anything wrong in the Ohio Tavern that any of my
bartenders or I had seen," Sims said. "It's certainly nothing we'd
ever want."

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According to the criminal complaint:

Kies sold heroin on Oct. 26, 2007, to Randy Severin, who took it to
Stoughton to give to his roommate and to Fosdal. The next morning, the
roommate awoke to find Fosdal dead. An autopsy found she died from a
heroin overdose.

Severin, 39, pleaded no contest on Oct. 10 to first-degree reckless
homicide for Fosdal's death. But under a plea deal, prosecutors will
ask for probation if he provides testimony against others.

Within a week of his plea, Severin told police about his history with
Kies, from whom he had been buying drugs, including cocaine, marijuana
and OxyContin, since late 2005. He said he bought heroin from Kies as
many as 70 to 100 times from 2005 to 2007, mostly at the Ohio Tavern.

Severin told police that Kies sat on a stool at the Ohio and used the
underside of the bar as cover while he sold drugs. Sometimes, he said,
Kies stepped outside or used the bathroom to make deals. Severin often
saw as many as 10 to 15 others who "were obviously waiting for Ian
Kies to arrive at his regular time between 12:30 and 2 p.m.," the
complaint states.

Kies kept his drugs hidden inside a compartment, held shut with
Velcro, inside the brim of his baseball cap, Severin told police.

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Although Kies is not charged in the other death, the complaint
indicates police believe drugs he sold may have caused the overdose
death of Marlin "Wizzard" Everson on Dec. 17 at the age of 41.

When Kies was arrested on Sept. 11 on a drug-related charge, police
found three pictures of Everson in his pockets, including one that had
Everson's birth and death dates written on the back. Investigators
were not available Wednesday to comment on the significance of the
photos.

Police last month interviewed a friend of Everson, who overdosed on
various drugs, primarily cocaine and heroin. The man said he was a
regular heroin user who met Kies in the summer of 2006 at the Ohio,
and eventually bought drugs from Kies regularly. During those sales,
the man said, Kies would take his cap off and he would hear the Velcro
rip open as Kies retrieved the drugs secreted inside the
compartment.

On Dec. 16, the man said, he and Everson went to a party at the Ohio,
where he saw Everson preparing a clear liquid that may have been
cocaine for injection. Later on, he said, Everson showed him a baggie
of heroin that he claimed he found and asked how to inject it. After
Everson dropped the man off at his car that night, he said, he never
saw Everson again.