Tyheim Smith, of Central Islip, sentenced for distributing fentanyl that caused fatal overdose of Bay Shore man
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace. Credit: HuffPost / Brittainy Newman
A Long Island man was sentenced to 17 years in prison for distributing fentanyl that caused the fatal overdose of a Bay Shore man in 2021, prosecutors said.
Tyheim Smith, 23, of Central Islip, sold deadly fentanyl pills that he marketed as the narcotic oxycodone, which is prescribed as a pain medication, prosecutors said.
Smith acknowledged that the pills he sold caused the death of the victim, a 25-year-old whose name was not released, and to using firearms while acting as a drug trafficker, prosecutors said.
“This prosecution demonstrates my Office’s commitment to confronting the deadly fentanyl epidemic in this district,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “Today, the defendant, a drug dealer who carried out his illicit business using illegal guns, was held accountable for distributing fentanyl that caused the tragic poisoning death of a young man on Long Island. The large quantities of fentanyl the defendant distributed all over Suffolk County had a devastating impact on the community, including by taking this young man away from his family."
According to prosecutors, in July 2021, Smith sold the unnamed victim “blues,” which are pills the victim believed were oxycodone, when in fact, the defendant knew the pills were fentanyl.
His family found him dead in their Bay Shore residence after he took the pills, prosecutors said.
In the month following the victim's death, Smith sold fentanyl pills to undercover officers five different times, prosecutors said.
In October 2021, the Suffolk County Police Department executed a search of Smith’s home and recovered 72 fentanyl pills marked as oxycodone and two loaded firearms, high-capacity magazines and ammunition.
Smith's attorney could not be reached for comment.
In 2023, there were an estimated 366 fatal fentanyl overdoses in Suffolk, county prosecutors said earlier this year.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
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