FDL Man Sentenced on Reckless Homicide Charge

RIPON, Wis (WRPN)- A 46-year-old Fond du Lac man has been sentenced to six years in prison and eight years of extended supervision on a second degree reckless homicide charge.

During a hearing in Fond du Lac County Court Friday Julio Batista entered an Alford Plea to the charge. An Alford Plea is not an admission of guilty, but recognizes a strong indication of guilt. Two other charges were read into the record and dismissed.

Charges stemmed from an incident on August 9^th of 2023. According to the criminal complaint several anonymous sources provided information that Batista had been selling fentanyl and crack cocaine throughout the county.

Investigators were able to link Batista to a man who died of a drug overdose in the Village of Eden. Fond du Lac County Chief Medical Examiner Adam Covach found the victim’s cause of death to be a combination of “alcohol, cocaine, and fentanyl toxicity.”