3 inmates, 2 others charged in scheme to smuggle fentanyl into Suffolk jail
Five people are facing charges for their role in a complex scheme to smuggle fentanyl into the Suffolk County jail in Riverhead on pieces of paper disguised as legal documents, District Attorney Raymond Tierney said Thursday.
The plot involved three inmates and two women working on the outside, including one of the prisoners' girlfriends, as well as an attorney who unwittingly nearly took possession of the liquid fentanyl-laced documents, Tierney said at a news conference in Riverhead.
"This case illustrates both the dangers of fentanyl and also the extreme financial rewards of the distribution of fentanyl," Tierney said. "This paper cost $1,400 each for each page … and they could be sold for as much as $6,000 a page in the jail. So you're looking at $24,000 that you can make off these pages."
The drugs were intercepted at criminal court in Riverhead before they could make their way into the jail, where fentanyl is worth more than 20 times than it is on the outside, said Suffolk Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr.
"We have to really be on top of the innovative ways that these men and women are trying to smuggle any type of contraband inside of our facilities," said Toulon, noting that there's been several fentanyl overdoses at the jail in recent years.
The sheet of fentanyl-laced document, Tierney said, would be cut to roughly the size of a credit card and sold for as much as $500 to inmates who would lick the paper to get high.
There were 399 fentanyl-related deaths in Suffolk last year, said Tierney, who is calling for stricter penalties for suppliers and brokers.
The plan's mastermind, Jyzir Hamilton, 35, of Hauppauge, a jail inmate, was charged with second-degree conspiracy, two counts of third-degree attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance, first- and second-degree attempted promoting prison contraband and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Hamilton, who is awaiting sentencing on conspiracy and weapons possession charges, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday in Riverhead and was remanded without bail.
Jon Manley, Hamilton's Hauppauge-based defense attorney, declined to comment.
Eric Freeman, 48, of Huntington Station, who is incarcerated while awaiting trial on rape charges, was charged with second-degree conspiracy. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday in Riverhead and was held on $500,000 cash or $2 million bond.
John Halverson, Freeman's Patchogue-based defense attorney, said "we're going to fight these charges."
Hamilton and Freeman are due back in court on Dec. 18.
Janiah Williams, 24, of Central Islip, Hamilton's girlfriend, was charged with second-degree attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance, second-degree conspiracy, two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and first-degree attempted promoting prison contraband.
Alyssa Brienza, 30, of Calverton, was charged with second-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, second-degree conspiracy, third and fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second-degree criminal use of drug paraphernalia and endangering the welfare of a child. When Brienza was arrested, police found cocaine, cash and a scale used for drugs in her vehicle, along with her 4-year-old child.
Arnold Foster, 33, of Centereach, who is incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility in upstate Stormville, was charged with second-degree conspiracy.
Williams, Brienza and Foster are scheduled to be arraigned in Riverhead on Nov. 27. Their charges, Tierney said, are not bail-eligible. The three do not yet have attorneys.
The scheme, organized by Hamilton, called for Williams to deliver documents sprayed with a mixture of water, acetone and fentanyl to an attorney representing Freeman, prosecutors said. The drugs were delivered to Williams by Brienza, authorities said, in deal brokered by Foster.
The documents, which appears to look like legal papers, would be handed from Freeman to Hamilton, and then sold inside the jail, Tierney said.
On Aug. 23, Williams contacted the unnamed attorney and told him she would meet him at the courthouse with the documents, officials said. But she was arrested by deputy sheriffs, who had been monitoring Hamilton's conversations, as she entered the building, Toulon said.
Smuggling fentanyl-laced paper into local jails is not new.
In January, Ronald Adam, an inmate in the jail, was arrested after a piece of paper infused with fentanyl was discovered in his cell. Adam's case is pending.
In March, Nassau County correctional officer Javel Welch, 38, of West Hempstead, was arrested on charges of smuggling contraband into the jail in East Meadow after a narcotics dog detected K2 drug residue on a Bible he was carrying in a backpack when he reported to work. That case has been waived to grand jury status and the investigation is ongoing, Nassau District Attorney spokesman Brendan Brosh said Thursday.
The Welch arrest came as Nassau investigators were on high alert following an overdose death at the jail and an increase in reports of jail inmates rolling up Bible pages containing drug residue and smoking them, District Attorney Anne Donnelly said at the time.
Ray DiGiacomo, 45, of Bethpage, was discovered unconscious inside his cell at 12:15 a.m. March 1 and pronounced dead one hour later at a hospital, Nassau police said at the time.
A copy of his death investigation report obtained by Newsday showed DiGiacomo died of “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fluorofentanyl, heroin, fentanyl and codeine.” A toxicology report shows investigators discovered a “burnt paper wick with words” that tested positive for fentanyl and other substances during their investigation into DiGiacomo’s death.
With Grant Parpan
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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