Meth Overdose Victim Dumped, Friend Sentenced to 9.5 Years
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Aaron Organ-aorgan@timesuniononline.com
The embattled Syracuse man who arranged the dumping of the body of a man who overdosed on methamphetamine in December 2009 was sentenced Thursday in Kosciusko Circuit Court.
Charles Richard Losee, 41, of 207 E. Bowser St., Syracuse, was sentenced by Judge Rex Reed to 9-1/2 total years in prison for crimes associated with the death of 40-year-old William R. Edmundson of Syracuse, whose body was found in a ditch near Dewart Lake in December 2009. Losee was convicted of Class D felony failing to notify authorities of a body or moving a body, and Class B felony dealing in methamphetamine.
Police were led by a tipster to Losee’s Bower Street home after being informed Edmundson had died there Dec. 8 of a methamphetamine overdose. A woman at the home told police that Losee and Edmundson were both using meth at the home, and that Edmundson began vomiting “black stuff” and later died, according to Losee’s probable-cause affidavit.
Another woman told investigators that Losee watched as residents performed CPR on Edmundson, and that after it was determined he had died, “Losee made a phone call to someone to come and help him remove the body,” the affidavit said.
Days later, on Dec. 16, Edmundson’s body was found off the east side of CR 400E, just south of CR 1050N, Syracuse. Toxicology tests showed he died of a meth overdose, and his body had been discarded in the ditch.
In line with a plea agreement with Kosciusko County prosecutors, Reed sentenced Losee to six years for the meth charge, and six months for failing to report Edmundson’s death. He was also tagged as a habitual controlled substance offender, which carries an additional three years of incarceration.
Losee has a peppered criminal history with multi-county drug convictions.
“You either will or you won’t, when you get out of incarceration, be back in,” Reed cautioned Losee after handing down sentence. “I’d like to see you get out and lead a long and meaningful life.”
