Hudson Valley Man Sold Fentanyl To Person Who Died After Using It: Feds

MOHEGAN LAKE, NY — A northern Westchester man was accused of selling fentanyl to someone which resulted in that person’s death.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District, said that Perry Freeman, 37, of Mohegan Lake, was arrested and charged Monday with one count of fentanyl distribution resulting in death and one count of illegally possessing ammunition as a convicted felon.

“As alleged, Perry Freeman sold fentanyl to a victim who died a horrific death shortly after taking the drugs,” Williams said. “This office will not rest until those who peddle this poison have been brought to justice.”

Prosecutors said, on Nov. 10, 2021, Freeman sold fentanyl to his victim. Shortly afterward, police responded to a report of a burning car in a parking lot in Mohegan Lake, about a three-minute drive from Freeman’s apartment.

Police said they found a Ford Focus on fire, with the victim in the driver’s seat with his foot on the accelerator.

After the fire was extinguished, the victim was pulled out and declared dead.

Investigators determined that the car caught on fire after overheating while the accelerator was depressed for an excessive period and the car was in park. In other words, they said the victim was passed out in the driver’s seat with his foot on the pedal.

The Westchester County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy on the victim and found he had lethal levels of both fentanyl and norfentanyl, a metabolite of fentanyl, in his blood. It also found some darkening of the man’s lungs, indicating smoke inhalation before his death.

The medical examiner’s office certified the man’s death as both acute fentanyl intoxication and accident.

Chief Robert Noble of the Yorktown Police Department, which worked with the SDNY and the Drug Enforcement Administration on the case, said it was good for his community to see its local police request assistance from federal agencies and have it culminate with the arrest of an alleged dangerous drug dealer.

“Yorktown is a law and order community,” he said. “We’ll continue to work hard, share information and work shoulder to shoulder on our streets with all of our partners in law enforcement to keep it that way.”

If convicted, Freeman faces a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison for the fentanyl distribution charge and a maximum of 15 years in prison for the illegal ammunition possession charge.