Tiffani Teller charged with Green Bay woman’s fentanyl overdose death

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - A Green Bay woman is charged with first-degree reckless homicide for the death of a woman in April. Prosecutors allege Tiffani Taylor, 37, provided the drugs that led to the victim’s overdose death.

According to the criminal complaint:

Green Bay police found the woman dead in her apartment on Walnut St. after getting a call from a parent who hadn’t heard from her in 36 hours, couldn’t get a response by phone or text, and was concerned for her welfare. Officers found her dead sitting up in her bed, slouching forward, with numerous prescription bottles. Some of the bottles were prescribed to her and a few were prescribed to her boyfriend, who’d been jailed in Ozaukee County for four months.

An autopsy found the victim died from toxic levels of fentanyl and alprazolam, better known by the brand name Xanax.

A search of the victim’s phone showed she’d communicated with someone labeled “Alex’s Friend.” When police questioned the boyfriend in jail, he recognized the number as a woman who offered him drugs outside a methadone clinic. He said she sold fake Percocet and bought from her once or twice. He didn’t know her name but was able to describe the woman and where she lived and positively identified her in a photograph.

Police say Teller’s apartment matched the description closely. When they interviewed her, Teller was shown a photo of the woman and denied knowing her and said she didn’t really remember the messages shared between her phone number and the victim’s phone. Police say Teller changed her story a number of times, then an hour into the interview became emotional and started crying. Teller admitted setting up a deal to sell five Percocets, or fake M30′s, for $100, to the victim in the parking lot of her apartment building, but she said the woman “didn’t get them from my hand though.” Police took this to mean she didn’t personally hand the pills to the victim, but Teller refused to say who did.

Teller told them she knew the pills were knockoffs but no one had overdosed on them before.

Teller will be back in court for her preliminary hearing in one week. The reckless homicide charge carries up to 40 years in prison, but 6 years could be added to her sentence if she’s convicted because she has a previous felony conviction.