EAST ALTON – Tyler Zeller, whose sexual abuse allegations as a John Doe juvenile broke former lawyer Tom Lakin’s power in 2006, apparently ended his life in his home on Sept. 4.
Friends found him, according to Madison County deputy coroner Roger Smith.
He said his office would investigate the death as self-inflicted.
Zeller was 30.
Lakin served prison time but not for crimes against Zeller. Federal prosecutors dropped a charge of interstate travel with a minor for sex.
Special state prosecutors let him register as a sex offender rather than plead guilty.
Still, Zeller’s allegations led to the investigation that put Lakin behind bars.
Lawyer Ed Unsell made the allegations public in 2006, when he sued Lakin on behalf of Zeller’s mother Mary Doe in Madison County circuit court.
All Madison County judges recused themselves, so chief judge Ed Ferguson transferred it to St. Clair County.
St. Clair County refused jurisdiction; Unsell withdrew his Madison suit and filed it in St. Clair.
Former Madison County state’s attorney William Mudge, now chief judge, called for a criminal investigation but declared a conflict of interest.
Chief Illinois appellate prosecutor Patrick Delfino and appellate prosecutor Charles Colburn began the criminal investigation.
Former St. Clair County associate judge James Radcliffe stayed Unsell’s suit pending resolution of a criminal investigation.
In 2007, grand jurors in U.S. district court indicted Lakin on 16 charges that he distributed cocaine and possessed it with intent to distribute it.
They charged that he maintained his residence at 287 Oakley Place in East Alton as a drug house.
They found various individuals knew the residence as a party house where cocaine could be obtained readily.
They found he used the residence as a secure place for their cocaine use and his.
They found he distributed cocaine to some persons prior to asking them to engage in sexual activity including activity with John Doe 1, who at the time was 15.
They found Lakin engaged in sexual activity with John Doe 1 including oral sex with each other on several occasions.
They asserted a single count of a sexual crime, finding Lakin crossed state lines for sex with a minor when he caused John Doe 1 to travel to his Malibu residence.
Lakin pleaded guilty on four counts in 2008, stipulating that he maintained his residence for the purpose of distributing and using cocaine.
He stipulated that from 1998 to 2002, he purchased cocaine and distributed it at the residence; that he telephoned others and ordered cocaine for delivery; and that he distributed more than 500 grams but less than two kilograms, or 1.1 pounds to 4.4 pounds.
He stipulated to a single event in 2005, stating he placed cocaine on a plate and divided it into lines that he and others consumed.
District Judge Phil Gilbert sentenced him to six years in federal prison.
Prosecutors Delfino and Colburn didn’t bring charges or close their investigation, meaning Unsell couldn’t advance his suit in St. Clair County.
He moved to lift the stay in 2011, claiming Delfino and Colburn exhibited no indication of any intention to prosecute.
He served subpoenas for testimony about their progress.
Eighteen days later they announced an agreement that Lakin wouldn’t plead guilty of sexual crimes but would register as a sex offender.
Lakin stipulated that he performed oral sex on a boy 15 years old.
Former associate judge Charles Romani approved the agreement and placed on the record that the case involved former Lakin secretary Sandra Zeller and son Tyler.
St. Clair County associate judge Heinz Rudolf, now circuit judge, lifted the stay.
Unsell moved for summary judgment on liability, claiming Lakin admitted it.
Lakin’s lawyer Clyde Kuehn of Belleville answered that Lakin pleaded not guilty and denied every allegation in Unsell’s complaint.
“The criminal proceedings in Madison County did not truly test anything about the merits of the allegations in the plaintiffs’ complaint,” Kuehn wrote.
Unsell replied that Lakin asked the court to not believe what he stipulated.
Rudolf granted judgment on liability in 2014, but didn’t hold trial.
Lakin and the Zellers achieved settlement in 2017, and Rudolf approved it.
On Sept. 4, when Unsell learned Tyler Zeller died, he quoted the proverb that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
“Tom Lakin was allowed by the local authorities at the time to behave in a most immoral way,” he said.
“Tyler’s death is just another example of the destructive aftermath and broken lives that occur when arguably good people turn a blind eye to people in power who choose to use their power in the way which he did.”