Glen Cove man pleads guilty to distributing fake oxycodone pill with fentanyl that led to 2 fatal overdoses
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Credit: HuffPost/Brittainy Newman
A Long Island man has pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl and conspiracy in connection with two overdose deaths.
Devon Thurmond, 23, of Glen Cove, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to distribute fentanyl from 2021 through 2023 and to distribution of fentanyl in April 2021 that ultimately caused the overdose death of an unnamed victim.
As part of his plea before United States District Judge Gary R. Brown, Thurmond admitted that he knowingly conspired with his co-defendant Cartier Funderburke, 24, of Glen Cove, to sell fake oxycodone pills that actually contained fentanyl. On April 29, 2021, he sold fake oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to the unnamed victim, identified only as a 34-year-old Glen Cove resident, leading to the person's death, prosecutors said.
Thurmond also admitted that while he was incarcerated on an unrelated state charge, he caused fake oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to be distributed by another codefendant Melissa Trimarchi, 37, of Glen Cove, leading to the overdose death of another victim, a 27-year-old from Locust Valley, on or about Jan. 9, 2023, prosecutors said.
Thurmond faces up to 40 years in prison at sentencing. Both co-defendants previously pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Thurmond's defense attorney could not be reached for comment.
“As he admitted today, Thurmond’s conspiracy and sale of fentanyl disguised as prescription pain pills directly led to the poisoning deaths of two Long Island residents,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “My Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to prosecute traffickers for their callous disregard for human life in pushing deadly drugs and contributing to the alarming opioid epidemic that has continued to harm this District.”
According to prosecutors, between April 2021 and February 2023, Thurmond conspired with Funderburke and Trimarchi to sell fentanyl disguised as oxycodone pain pills and sold them to the victims.
Prosecutors said that evidence, including cell phone analysis, showed that the fentanyl used by the first victim was purchased from Thurmond and Funderburke earlier that same day and that Thurmond personally delivered the drugs.
A search of the second victim's phone revealed text messages from Trimarchi, including a discussion about the victim's "purchase of fentanyl in the form of a single fake oxycodone pill in the hours before his overdose death."
In recorded jail calls between Thurmond and Trimarchi, Trimarchi admitted to selling the fatal dose of fentanyl in the form of a fake oxycodone pill to the victim, prosecutors said. The pill came from the supply of fake oxycodone pills provided by Thurmond to Trimarchi to sell on his behalf while he was incarcerated, prosecutors said.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
