Drug dealer pleads guilty to manslaughter in OD death, DA says

The first person charged in New York State with manslaughter for dealing drugs that led to an overdose pleaded guilty Friday afternoon as his trial was about to begin in Riverhead, the Suffolk County district attorney’s office said.

Roxy Headley Jr., 30, of Mastic Beach, also pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon before state Supreme Court Justice Mark Cohen.

Numerous drug-dealing charges, which carried significantly more severe sentences than the manslaughter charge, were covered by the plea deal. As part of the deal, Headley will be sentenced to 13 to 15 years in prison next month.

“This case highlights the importance of the work we do in law enforcement,” District Attorney Timothy Sini said. Headley made about $16,000 a week selling drugs on the street, knowing all along how dangerous it was, Sini said.

“I have the stuff that has all the bodies on it,” Headley bragged to customers, according to Sini, highlighting its potency.

Another drug dealer, James Fava, 30, of Ronkonkoma, was sentenced last month to 4 to 6 years in prison in a similar case. Fava was charged after Headley, but pleaded guilty last year.

Both Headley and Fava were charged with second-degree manslaughter by Sini’s predecessor, former District Attorney Thomas Spota, in an effort to hold drug dealers accountable for the deaths their products cause, even though manslaughter is a lesser crime than major drug dealing.

Sini said he would endorse “death by dealing” legislation, which would impose tougher sentences for those who sell drugs that cause deaths. That could encourage dealers to sell less dangerous drugs or get out of dealing altogether, he said.

“This is a deterrable crime,” he said.

Headley sold the lethal dose of heroin and fentanyl to a North Babylon man on May 18, 2016. Police and prosecutors refused to identify the dead man then, and continued to refuse Friday.

Assistant District Attorney Kate Wagner said the family was “absolutely thrilled” with the plea deal.

Investigators found a needle and an empty glassine bag near the body. The bag had the stamp “Aleve,” used by Headley to distinguish his products, prosecutors said.

Defense attorney Christopher Gioe of Hauppauge declined to comment.