Drug dealer sentenced in stripper's overdose

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Written by: 195 on Jan 28, 2010

WATERBURY — Toni Wheeler said she will always hate Dennis Delucia, the man who slipped packets of heroin to her 21-year-old daughter, Liane Berthiaume, an exotic dancer at Mr. Happy's strip club.

Authorities concluded the drugs that Berthiaume shot into her vein caused her death.

A judge on Friday sent Delucia to prison for 5½ years, saying he might not be legally liable for her death, but was morally responsible for what happened to her.

"I hate you now and always will," Wheeler told Delucia during his sentencing in Waterbury Superior Court. "Maybe God will forgive your pathetic soul."

Delucia, 46, of 9 Dewberry Road, knew Berthiaume as "Arizona." He thought she was attractive and had slipped her his number in the hopes she would call him.

In August of 2008 he slipped her packets of 59.8 percent pure heroin that he had purchased for $75 from two men behind a garage on Meriden Road.

Berthiaume took the heroin into a bathroom at Mr. Happy's. Employees at the club used a screwdriver to pry open the door before finding her unconscious.

Delucia made no effort to help the young woman, a prosecutor said at Friday's sentencing hearing.

"He didn't get concerned when she didn't come out of the bathroom," said Assistant State's Attorney David Gulick. "He never told the police or the paramedics that she used heroin. He didn't say a word."

Friends said Berthiaume, a talented musician gifted with a beautiful voice that could silence a room, hated working at the club. She had aspired to kick her drug addiction and become a nurse, but those dreams died when she was taken off life support following the overdose. She left behind a 2-year-old daughter, in addition to friends and family.

"Yes, Dennis Delucia, you took my daughter," Berthiaume's mother said. "You're old enough to be her father. We know what you wanted."

To read the complete story see Saturday's Republican-American or our electronic edition at http://republicanamerican.ct.newsmemory.com.

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