Woman Sentenced After 'Large Scale' Drug Trafficking Bust: Feds

WADING RIVER, NY — A Wading River woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a drug trafficking bust, federal officials said.

According to Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Amber L. Schatz, 33, was sentenced Thursday by United States District Judge Denis R. Hurley to 10 years in prison for conspiring to distribute controlled substances and the possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Schatz pleaded guilty to the charges in May, Peace said.

According to public filings and statements made by Schatz during her guilty plea, in January 2020, Schatz and her boyfriend, Curtis Prussick, distributed large quantities of narcotics, including fentanyl, federal officials said.

Following community complaints of people distributing drugs at public places in Suffolk County, law enforcement investigated and determined that Schatz and Prussick regularly sold drugs from parking lots around Rocky Point, federal officials said.

The Suffolk County East End Drug Task Force executed a search warrant at Schatz and Prussick’s residence in Wading River and discovered a large-scale drug distribution operation, Peace said. Law enforcement seized more than 170 grams of fentanyl, more than 125 grams of cocaine and 40 grams of crack cocaine as well as quantities of oxycodone and heroin, Peace said.

Materials for packaging drugs, a pill press that the defendants used to press fentanyl into pill form, and an assault rifle that they used to protect their drug operation were also seized, federal officials said.

Schatz and Prussick were arrested in February 2020 and the charges against Prussick are pending, Peace said.

“Today’s sentence demonstrates that defendants like Schatz who contribute to the opioid epidemic and put communities at risk by openly selling large quantities of dangerous drugs will face serious consequences,” Peace said.