Fatal overdoses of 2 Harvard men lead to 16-year prison sentence for man who provided heroin

A man pleaded guilty Monday to delivering the fatal doses of heroin that killed two men who were neighbors in Harvard, one his longtime friend.

Raynardo O. Gonzalez, 54, of River Grove, was sentenced to 16 years in prison after entering guilty pleas to two counts of drug-induced homicide, Class X felonies.

Gonzalez had been set to go to trial Monday before Judge Tiffany Davis but agreed to the guilty plea instead.

Authorities said on or about Aug. 27, 2022, Gonzalez delivered heroin to longtime friend Nicholas Torres, 47, and Jason D. Schultz, 50, according to documents in McHenry County court.

Investigators say Torres traveled from his Harvard home to meet Gonzalez in Chicago and bought heroin for himself and Schultz, according to a news release from the McHenry County State’s Attorneys Office. He then drove back to his home where he lived in an apartment next door to Schultz and gave Schultz his portion of the heroin, prosecutors said.

“Both men ingested the heroin within their respective homes, which resulted in their deaths,” according to the release.

Both families agreed with Gonzalez’s sentence, prosecutors said.

A woman who identified herself as Torres’ partner gave an impact statement. She said Torres was a father and grandfather and when he died, “our world shattered” and it left “an empty space that never will be filled.”

Torres was “always thinking of others” and, being an organ donor, he continued to think of others even after his death, she said.

Noting that no sentence will bring him back, the woman said Torres “mattered to me, his children and his grandchildren. The pain we feel ... is a life sentence.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Shelby Page read an impact statement from one of Torres’ daughters, who said his death has left a “permanent scar.” She said Torres was a loving “good dad” who “took care of his family.”

His death has affected the way she sees the world; everything seems darker and colder.

Her father, she said, “was the light in my life.”

Page also read a statement from Schultz’s mother who said Schultz “was a very big part of my life” as well as his children’s and grandchildren’s. She said Schultz raised his daughter on his own, was a good man and not a drug addict and she hopes she will one day see him again. “He had a lot to live for.”

“The shock has worn off and all we have left are the good memories,” the woman wrote in her statement.

Davis asked Gonzalez if he wanted to say anything. He said Torres was his friend and he apologized to the families “for what they are going through.”

The judge said she prays for everyone involved and though she isn’t sure where they go from here, she hopes they can forgive Gonzalez and find some “sense of peace.”

To Gonzalez, Davis said: “You know where you are going. Mr. Gonzalez, you are headed back to prison. ... There is a lot of darkness in prison.”

Gonzalez has a “violent criminal” history and has served prison time, according to court records.

The judge told Gonzalez when he gets out of prison she hopes he picks a different path and said: “It’s up to you.” She encouraged him “to find it in your heart to help younger inmates” turn their lives around and get out of their lives of crime.

Gonzalez is required to serve 75% of his prison time followed by one year and six months of mandatory supervised release. He is receiving credit for 977 days in the county jail.

Schultz was described in an online obituary by Davenport Family Funeral Homes and Crematory as “a kind, generous, funny, wonderful person that will be missed so much. He left a [gap] in the hearts of all who knew and loved him that no one on earth can fill.”