Chicago man sentenced to prison in connection with McHenry County overdose death

A Chicago man was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for drug-induced homicide after he pleaded guilty to delivering the cocaine that killed a woman in 2019.

Jose Perez, 61, was scheduled to go to trial Thursday in connection with the death of Barbara Duelfer. Instead, Perez accepted an offer from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office and pleaded guilty to a single count of drug-induced homicide. In exchange, he was sentenced to prison and prosecutors agreed to dismiss an additional count of the same charge, court records show.

Under Illinois’ truth-in-sentencing guidelines, Perez is required to serve 75% of his sentence.

Perez was arrested in March 2020 as the result of an investigation into Duelfer’s death. Investigators learned that Perez delivered cocaine to Duelfer’s boyfriend, Gregory B. Galluzzo, 61, of Algonquin, who then gave the drugs to Duelfer, court records show.

Galluzzo also accepted a plea deal and in February 2020 was sentenced to two years of probation of delivery of a controlled substance that ultimately resulted in a death.