Teen Drug Supplier In Queens Sentenced For Laced Opioids: DA

QUEENS — A teenager who supplied fentanyl pills, which he labeled as Percocet and oxycodone instead, to an undercover cop in Queens in 2022 was sentenced to prison, prosecutors said.

Justin Echeverry, 19, was sentenced to eight years in prison after selling Percocet and laced oxycodone in Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, and Downtown Flushing between January 2022 and June 2022, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Monday.

Investigators who searched the Flushing teen's home on Aug. 31 also found an assault weapon, three other guns, and more than $12,000 in cash, said the district attorney.

Echeverry was also sentenced to a concurrent sentence of one to three years in prison for shooting a man in the leg during a separate incident, Katz said.

The Flushing teen was ordered to pay $18,210 as part of the plea, prosecutors said.

For five months, Echeverry sold 99 pills purported to be Percocet and 1,010 pills purported to be oxycodone to an undercover detective disguised as a buyer, the district attorney said.

Katz said that laboratory testing revealed that each pill contained fentanyl.

Echeverry shot a 26-year-old in the leg during an argument on 90th Street in Jackson Heights on March 14, 2022, prosecutors said.