A Deer Park man was sentenced Thursday to 16 years in prison for selling illegal fentanyl pills to an undercover investigator who was working for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Anthony Alexander, 57, was found guilty on March 30 by a jury. He had said during the transactions that the pills were the painkiller oxycodone, but they were actually the far more potent fentanyl, according to the news release from the district attorney’s office.

Alexander’s court-appointed attorney, Christopher Cassar of Huntington, said his client had gotten addicted to painkillers after being badly injured years ago in several car crashes as well as during a fall at his job at a warehouse and was selling to support his own habit.

Cassar said Alexander has a prior record for robbery. He said his client sold five pills to the undercover investigator, and Cassar believes Alexander should have been allowed to go to drug-treatment court instead of jail.

“He sold five pills and he got 16 years for a guy that clearly was addicted to opioids,” Cassar said.

The sales took place on two days in January 2022 at the Babylon train station. Tests showed the pills to be fentanyl, not oxycodone.

Cassar said that the transactions were arranged via text messages and then captured on surveillance video.

“My client was set up by a confidential informant who was working with the police for leniency on her own case,” he said. Cassar said Alexander was doing a favor for the woman, who had told him that the man desperately needed the pills for his own addiction.

The jury, sitting in Suffolk County Criminal Court, did not agree with Cassar’s entrapment defense. Alexander intends to appeal.

When Alexander was arrested on Jan. 20, 2022, he had metal knuckles, as well as oxycodone, alprazolam and suboxone films, the news release from the district attorney’s office said. He was indicted a week later, according to online court records.

The crimes for which he was sentenced, by acting Judge Steven Pilewski, were three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree; two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree; and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, all felonies.

District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said in the release, “Even though we only managed to take one drug dealer off the street during this trial, in doing so, we may have just saved countless lives.”

Errick Allen not guilty … Water rates rise … Woman boxer back in the ring Credit: Newsday

NYPD officer's wake today ... Mets' home opener today ... Yanks win opener ... Feed Me: Wood-fired pizza

Errick Allen not guilty … Water rates rise … Woman boxer back in the ring Credit: Newsday

NYPD officer's wake today ... Mets' home opener today ... Yanks win opener ... Feed Me: Wood-fired pizza

Latest videos

Newsday LogoSUBSCRIBEUnlimited Digital AccessOnly 25¢for 5 months
ACT NOWSALE ENDS SOON | CANCEL ANYTIME