Jaden Bholan of Holtsville sold cocaine, fentanyl to Navy veteran who fatally overdosed, DA says

A Holtsville man faces drugs and weapons charges after he allegedly sold fentanyl and cocaine to a U.S. Navy veteran who then died from an overdose, Suffolk officials said Friday.

Jaden Bholan, 24, allegedly sold the drugs to the 41-year-old man on Jan. 20 in North Lindenhurst, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a news release. After ingesting those illicit substances, the man died that evening, authorities said.

Tierney did not identify the victim by name, but noted that he “founded a local nonprofit organization serving Suffolk County veterans.”

“A Navy veteran who served four deployments overseas and spent his time back home building an organization to help fellow veterans lost his life because this defendant allegedly chose to sell him poison,” Tierney said in a statement. “Even after learning of the veteran’s death, this defendant allegedly kept dealing, bragging in text messages to how potent his product was.”

David Besso, the defense attorney representing Bholan, declined to comment when reached by telephone Friday afternoon.

About two months after the alleged sale to the Navy veteran, Bholan fled his apartment as Suffolk police officers tried to apprehend him, according to Tierney. As he ran, he ditched about 8 grams of cocaine, fentanyl, a pair of cellphones and a digital scale for weighing drugs. Police found him with a third cellphone and more than $2,000 in small bills, authorities said.

While executing a search warrant at Bholan’s apartment, police discovered “a loaded Glock firearm with a high-capacity ammunition feeding device” as well as ammunition and another digital scale, the district attorney’s office said. Officers found the gun in an area of the home where a 3-year-old child who also lives there could have accessed it, authorities said.

Bholan pleaded not guilty Wednesday to criminal sale of a controlled substance, child endangerment and several drugs and weapons possession charges. He is due back in court May 15.