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Prison sentence for 26-year-old found guilty in West Salem death

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A 26-year-old Arkansas native was sentenced to prison for the drug-related death of his friend at a house in West Salem.

Lathan Foster was ordered to serve four years in prison, followed by three years on supervision and a five-year period of probation.

Foster

Foster entered a plea of no contest in October on a narcotics charge. He had originally been charged with reckless homicide, for providing fentanyl to Jeremy Pittman, who died of an overdose on New Year’s Eve of 2021.

At sentencing Tuesday, Foster apologized for his actions in Pittman’s death, and said that when he found Jeremy after the overdose, he did not leave his friend alone.

“I was brought up better than that,” Foster said.

A trial was scheduled in La Crosse for last fall, and Foster had gone back to Arkansas where he was jailed early in 2024 in an unrelated case. He was brought back to La Crosse County last April.

In pronouncing the sentence, La Crosse County Judge Elliott Levine said Foster was “taking a giant chance” when he bought the pills that Pittman had reportedly taken. The judge described the drug use as part of a “careless approach to life,” that in this case crossed a line.

Foster will get credit for 406 days served in jail since Pittman’s death, likely to be used to shorten the probation period.

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Dylan

    January 22, 2025 at 10:10 am

    Slap on the wrist basically, he’ll be out early doing the same thing again

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