Quincy woman receives five-year sentence for unlawful delivery of heroin, Xanax

QUINCY — A Quincy woman received a five-year sentence to the Illinois Department of Corrections on Wednesday afternoon in Adams County Circuit Court. 

Caitlin Dietiker, 32, pled guilty to two charges of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance on July 13 in exchange for a prison term of no longer than 10 years. Judge Roger Thomson sentenced her to five years for delivery of heroin, a Class 2 felony, and 3 ½ years for delivery of Xanax, a Class 3 felony. He said the sentences would run concurrently.

Dietiker received credit for 277 days already served in the Adams County Jail. She is eligible for day-for-day credit, meaning she could spend less than two years in the Department of Corrections.

A grand jury determined in January 2022 that enough evidence existed to prove Dietiker had delivered one gram of a substance containing Fentanyl to Jillian A. Hogan on March 22, 2021, and that Hogan’s ingestion of the substance caused her death. However, a charge of drug-induced homicide, a Class X felony punishable for between 15 and 30 years in the Department of Corrections, and a third count of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance were dropped during plea negotiations. 

Public defender Todd Nelson asked Thomson for a sentence of probation. He said Dietiker’s childhood was difficult. Her grandparents primarily raised her. Her mother and her mother’s boyfriends were abusive, and she only met her father once. Nelson said she has suffered from significant mental health issues since childhood.

“At some point, she left home, and I suspect that is because of the combination of mental health issues and the abuse she suffered at home,” Nelson said. “That, in a nutshell, sums up her childhood. Sadly, a number of those issues continue to plague Miss Dietiker today. 

“Her past, I think, could accurately be characterized as turbulent and chaotic. The combination of trauma, mental health and addiction has, sadly for her, been a triumvirate that has held significant power over life. All of that is not offered as any type of excuse. It is offered by way of explanation. When somebody deals with all of those issues, it’s not easy to pull yourself out of that black hole.”

Assistant state’s attorney Josh Jones asked for Thomson to sentence Dietiker to seven years for the delivery of heroin charge and three years for the delivery of Xanax charge. He noted Dietiker was convicted of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance in 2017.

“Here we have an individual who has sold drugs in the past and, while on probation for selling drugs, continued to sell drugs,” Jones said. “This is a case where this defendant sold drugs, sold heroin, sold Xanax. While she did not plead guilty to drug-induced homicide, and there were certainly factual circumstances making that situation difficult to prove, the fact that the individual she sold Xanax to later died of a drug overdose on that same day cannot be overstated.

“This is an individual who peddles poison, who sells drugs. There is no excuse for that. There is no justification for that. She does not deserve probation. She represents a danger to our community, because she’s going to continue to do that. That’s what she’s shown us to this point.”

When Thomson asked Dietiker if she wanted to make a statement, she simply replied, “No, your honor.”

Thomson said he didn’t give Dietiker probation because she already was on probation when she committed the two offenses. He noted she also previously failed to comply with drug addiction counseling.

“I find that you are not likely to comply with a further term of probation,” he said. “That would deprecate the seriousness of these offenses.”

Dietiker was stoic as she listened to Thomson deliver his sentence. She smiled and blew a kiss to her grandmother as bailiffs escorted her from the courtroom.