Drug Dealer Whose Clients Did 'The Fentanyl Dance' Sentenced

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — A Rockland County drug dealer has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Tuesday. He was the leader of a drug trafficking ring operating in Rockland for five years that specialized in heroin laced with fentanyl.

The use of heroin distributed by Robert Diaz, also known as "Facey" or "Face", almost killed someone in Queens in 2016, Berman said. The victim had to be revived with naxalone.

“For years, Robert Diaz peddled heroin and other drugs in and around Rockland County, contributing to the opioid crisis plaguing our community today and causing at least one victim to overdose," Berman said. "Today’s sentence should serve as a message to those seeking to profit off of this tragic epidemic.”

Diaz and eight co-defendants – Rene Sanchez, a/k/a “Renny,” Pablo Perez, a/k/a “Menor,” Christian Cardenas, a/k/a “Chris,” a/k/a “Spoonie,” David Almonte, a/k/a “Elli,” Ronald Bolanos, a/k/a “Ronny,” a/k/a “ET,” Rolando Paulino, a/k/a “Santana Paulino,” Theresa Keefe, a/k/a “Terry,” and Nicole Munderville, a/k/a “Nicki” – were charged with participating in a drug trafficking organization that distributed significant quantities of narcotics, including heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and crack cocaine, in and around Rockland that they obtained for resale from the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, New York.

According to the Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court, previous court filings, and statements made at public court proceedings: Diaz was well aware that the narcotics he and others were distributing contained fentanyl, were particularly dangerous, and had caused adverse reactions in multiple drug customers, including the overdose of Victim-1.

On March 20, 2017, Diaz, in a conversation with Perez, laughed as he discussed doing the "fentanyl dance," telling Perez that he had a "new connect" for "straight up fentanyl" and that customers "love it," prosecutors said.

In addition to the prison sentence, Diaz, 50, was sentenced to four years of supervised release.

Perez, Bolanos, and Keefe previously pled guilty and were sentenced to 90 months, 80 months, and 40 months in prison, respectively. Sanchez, Cardenas, Paulino, and Munderville previously pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

Berman praised the investigative work of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Rockland County Drug Task Force, and thanked the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office for their assistance in this investigation.

SEE: 9 Accused in Rockland Drug Bust: Doing The 'Fentanyl Dance'

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