ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – A South Elgin woman learned this week she must serve several years in prison for supplying heroin to an acquaintance who died from ingesting it.

Circuit Judge Susan Clancy Boles on Wednesday sentenced Andrea R. Nielsen, 25, to seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, according to a news release from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Under Illinois law, Nielsen must serve at least 75 percent of the sentence. She will receive credit for at least 707 days served in Kane County Jail, where she has been held since her arrest, according to the release.

A Kane County jury convicted her Jan. 28 of drug-induced homicide, a Class X felony that is committed when someone unlawfully delivers a controlled substance to another person, and that person's death is caused by ingesting the drugs, the release states.

“Heroin destroys families and lives,” Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon stated in the release. “It is an epidemic across the Chicago area. Those who use it or provide it to others either learn too late about its consequences or don’t care. Let this case be a painful reminder of the dangers of heroin use.”

Prosecutors presented evidence that showed Abbey Nordmeyer, 24, of South Elgin contacted Nielsen on April 4, 2013, and asked her to bring heroin.

According to the release, Nielsen and her co-defendant Nicholas Allen, 23, of Batavia, had driven to Chicago earlier and bought heroin. They then went to Nordmeyer’s residence, where the three ingested the drug and went to sleep. Nordmeyer was dead when Allen and Nielsen awoke, according to the release.

An autopsy determined Nordmeyer died of a heroin overdose.

Last year, Allen agreed to a sentence of eight years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea to drug-induced homicide.

Kane County Assistant State’s Attorneys Nicholas Gaeke and Debra Bree prosecuted the case.