NEW YORK (AP) — A New York Town drug broker was once sentenced Friday to ten years in jail for offering “The Twine” actor Michael Okay. Williams with fentanyl-laced heroin, inflicting his loss of life.
Irvin Cartagena, 40, of Aibonito, Puerto Rico, was once sentenced by way of U.S. District Pass judgement on Ronnie Abrams. Cartagena had pleaded to blame in April to conspiring to distribute medicine.
Williams overdosed in his Brooklyn penthouse condo in September 2021. He died hours after government stated he purchased the heroin from Cartagena on a sidewalk in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg community in a deal recorded by way of a safety digital camera.
Williams famously portrayed Omar Little, the rogue robber of drug sellers, in HBO’s “The Twine,” which ran from 2002 to 2008. Along with his paintings at the significantly acclaimed drama, Williams additionally starred in movies and different TV collection comparable to “Boardwalk Empire.”
Cartagena confronted a compulsory minimal of 5 years in jail and will have confronted as much as 40 years in the back of bars.
“I’m very sorry for my movements,” he stated sooner than the sentence was once introduced. “Once we offered the medicine, we by no means meant for any person to lose their existence.”
Abrams famous that those that knew Cartagena stated that he was once “useful and humble and tough operating” when he was once no longer the usage of medicine himself.
“I’m hopeful that with remedy, … it’ll let you transfer ahead on a extra productive and law-abiding trail,” the pass judgement on stated.
In a observation, U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams famous that those that participated within the sale of gear to Williams already knew that any individual else had died from medicine they have been peddling.
Prosecutors stated Cartagena and others persevered to promote fentanyl-laced heroin in New york and Brooklyn even after Williams died, even though Cartagena ultimately fled to Puerto Rico, the place he was once arrested in February 2022.
In a protection submission previous to sentencing, Cartagena’s legal professional, Sean Maher, stated his shopper was once paid for his side road gross sales in heroin to fortify his personal use.
“In a sad rapid, Mr. Cartagena was once the person who passed the small packet of gear to Mr. Williams — it simply will have been any of the opposite males who have been there or within the neighborhood promoting the similar medicine,” Maher wrote. “Sentencing Mr. Cartagena to double digits of jail time won’t deliver again the gorgeous existence that was once misplaced.”
Prosecutors in a presentence submission had asked a sentence of a minimum of 12 years whilst the courtroom’s Probation Division had really useful a 20-year time period after mentioning Cartagena’s 14 prior convictions for drug-related crimes, together with housebreaking, theft and jail get away.
Abrams, although, stated the suggestions have been “just too top.”
“This sentence, whilst serious, is enough however no longer more than vital,” she stated.