A 35-year-old Arkansas woman faces multiple felony charges after a man died in 2021 from a drug overdose in Walcott.
Phyllis Lee faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, controlled substance violation, and ongoing criminal conduct – influence enterprise, court records show.
A drug-related death in 2021
On the morning of March 3, 2021, a man was found deceased inside his hotel room at the Days Inn, 2889 N. Plainview Road, Walcott.
Deputies found a used syringe and a spoon with unknown residue near his body. Subsequent interviews of the man’s associates showed he was part of a traveling sales crew staying at the hotel and was a heroin addict, arrest affidavits show.
The residue on the spoon later tested positive for heroin, fentanyl, and acetyl fentanyl at the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation lab, affidavits say.
According to affidavits, an autopsy doctor determined the cause of death as “Acute intoxication by the combined effects of heroin, fentanyl, hydrocodone, acetyl fentanyl, and alcohol.” Hotel records show the sales crew arrived Feb. 71, 2021, at the hotel.
On March 23, 2021, an officer interviewed an associate of the deceased man, and the associate said they witnessed that person obtain heroin from Phyllis Lee inside Lee’s hotel room just hours
prior to his death. Surveillance video inside the hotel shows the man exiting Lee’s hotel room prior to going into his own room about six hours before he was found deceased, affidavits say.
Surveillance video also shows Lee knocking on the man’s door at about 12:24 a.m. on the morning of March 3, 2021, but no one answered, affidavits show
Immediately after the man was found deceased, Lee spoke with this witness and said she was worried about getting arrested for dealing heroin, which caused the man’s death, affidavits say. This witness said whenever the sales crew settled in a new city, Lee always found a local supplier for drugs and then would supply the rest of the sales crew with their drugs of choice. This witness further said they knew Lee to get her heroin and other drugs from someone in Rock Island, police allege in affidavits.
On April 20, 2021, an officer interviewed another person who was at the hotel at the time of the death. This person also stated they spoke directly with Lee right after the man died, and Lee said she was worried about being arrested for dealing heroin to the man.
This witness further stated they know Lee to be the primary supplier of drugs for the sales crew and stated Lee obtains drugs from someone locally then distributes it to the crew at the hotel.
In May 2021, a search warrant was obtained for the other person’s residence in Rock Island. Small amounts of heroin, cocaine, and drug paraphernalia was located inside the residence, where the resident was present and consented to an interview. The resident knows Lee, and knew her to be staying in a Walcott hotel.
The resident knew Phyllis Lee to be a heroin addict and supplied Lee with heroin on a daily basis for the duration of the time Lee was in Walcott (about one month,) according to affidavits.
A typical transaction would go as follows: Lee would hand the Rock Island resident $100 and the resident would give Lee the heroin. The resident knew Lee was supplying other people – including the man who died – at the Days Inn with heroin, affidavits say.
Affidavits show that a review of data provided by T-Mobile via search warrant on the Rock Island resident’s cell phone number shows several calls to and from the Days Inn in Walcott during the time Lee was staying there, along with communication with a number in her phone as “Phyllis/2nd line” with a total of 22 different instances of correspondence between the two on March 2, 2021, the day before the man died.
Messages via text and Messenger corroborate what the Rock Island resident said, according to affidavits.
Lee, who is being held on $50,000 cash-only bond in Scott County Jail, is set to appear June 30 in Scott County Court.
