Fentanyl Deaths Lead To Prison For Drug Dealer: Feds

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — A Congers man has been sentenced to more than 21 years in prison for distributing fentanyl which resulted in three deaths, authorities said.

Justin Turnick, 26, of Congers, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Philip M. Halpern.

Turnick previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute fentanyl, officials said. After Turnick serves his sentence, he will be on supervised release for five years.

Turnick’s fentanyl resulted in three fatal and three non-fatal poisonings in Rockland County between February 2020 and April 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The victims were teenagers and young adults, aged 18 through 23, prosecutors said.

Matthew Podolsky, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Turnick’s actions "didn’t just facilitate addiction."

"(His actions) fueled a crisis that has claimed lives and inflicted unimaginable suffering," Podolsky said, in a press release.

According to prosecutors, Turnick distributed the drug in various forms, including fentanyl packaged into pills, pure fentanyl and fentanyl-laced powder.

Prosecutors said Turnick distributed the fentanyl that resulted in the deaths of Gustaf Olsen, 19; Jonathan Shashoua, 22; and Ione Koenig, 18.

Turnick’s defense counsel, Francis L. O’Reilly, wrote in a memorandum to the court that his client has "substantial," shame, regret and remorse. Turnick’s family had a history of drug abuse, court documents show.

"While battling his own demons, Justin sold small quantities of drugs to individuals that he knew and often also abused drugs with," the defense memorandum states. "Tragic consequences unfolded and Justin will have to live with repercussions of his conduct for the rest of his life."

Several families of the victims provided the court with statements.

Shashoua’s mother wrote about her grief at the loss of her son.

"The defendant is an adult man responsible for his actions," she wrote, in her statement. "There is no excuse for repeatedly and knowingly distributing this poison that he knew was killing and injuring people. There is no excuse for such depravity and callous indifference to human life."