Heroin Dealer Pleads Guilty To Causing Death Of Wrestling Star

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY - A Ridge man pleaded guilty on Monday for distributing heroin that caused the death of a 20-year-old Kings Park man in 2016 and serious injury to another man in 2015, authorities said.

Richard Jacobellis, 24, admitted to distributing the heroin that led to the death of Nicholas Weber and caused serious bodily injury to Frances Theiling at the federal courthouse in Central Islip before United States District Judge Joanna Seybert.

As part of his guilty plea, Jacobellis agreed to a specific sentence of 16 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release, subject to the Court’s approval.

"Jacobellis admitted to poisoning people on Long Island by distributing heroin for years, even after his drugs took one life and nearly took another," United States Attorney Richard Donoghue. "The defendant’s conviction in this case will not bring back Nicholas Weber, but it will send a message to others who may consider selling drugs that this Office will bring to justice those who contribute to the opioid epidemic and hold them accountable for the harm they cause."

In 2015 Jacobellis, who was selling narcotics as early as 2012, provided heroin that nearly killed then-18-year-old Frances Theiling, who was saved by SCPD officers, according to authorities.

The following year, knowing that he had almost killed Theiling, Jacobellis sold the heroin that killed Weber, a Kings Park High School graduate.

Although Jacobellis was aware that his heroin had killed Weber, he continued to sell heroin until shortly before his arrest in February 2017, authorities say.

Weber was a champion wrestler who attended Suffolk County Community College.

Before his death in May 2016, Weber had been admitted to Stony Brook University, where he intended to study physics, for the fall 2016 semester.

Photo of Nicholas Weber via GoFundMe