Smithtown Man Sold Cocaine, Leading To Fatal Overdose: Suffolk DA

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — A Smithtown man was indicted after he was accused of selling cocaine, causing two people to overdose, one fatally, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said Friday.

Keith DiBartolomeo, 51, was charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance and other charges after he sold cocaine that contributed to a man's death, Tierney said. Another woman who nearly died of an overdose was left on a driveway by DiBartolomeo, who did not call first responders or help her, prosecutors said.

"New York State's 911 Good Samaritan Law encourages people to report their own overdose or another person's overdose without the fear that they will be arrested," Tierney said in a news release. "This law was created to help save lives. In this case, however, this defendant allegedly left two people without rendering them aid or even calling for help in a most cruel and callous display of disregard for human life."

Suffolk County police officers responded to a Smithtown home at 10 a.m. Jan. 21, where they found a woman unconscious on the driveway, officials said. The woman was treated for a drug overdose and hypothermia at St. Catherine’s Hospital, authorities said. Her body temperature was 82.8 degrees when she got to the emergency room, and her life was saved with medical care, the DA said.

Police searched the home and found a dead man in a back apartment, investigators said. Two plastic baggies containing residue were recovered from the apartment, prosecutors said. One bag tested positive for cocaine, while the other contained fentanyl, the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory told officials.

Officials reviewed home surveillance footage that showed at 5:27 a.m. Jan 21, DiBartolomeo pulled the unconscious woman from her car and dragged her onto the driveway, investigators said. DiBartolomeo tried to wake the woman but then left her lying in the driveway despite frigid January temperatures while he went into the home, the DA said. Nearly four hours later, at 9:15 a.m., DiBartolomeo was seen in the surveillance footage walking past the woman, who was still on the driveway, getting into his car and driving away, prosecutors said.

At 9:54 a.m., a tenant living in a separate area of the residence called 911 after finding the woman
lying on the driveway, authorities said. That same 911 call led to the discovery of the dead man inside the apartment, investigators said.

On February 16, Suffolk police officers watched DiBartolomeo using a drug in the passenger seat of a vehicle, officials said. The officers arrested DiBartolomeo and recovered two plastic bags containing cocaine, prosecutors said.

DiBartolomeo was arraigned Thursday and charged with one count of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance; two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance; one count of fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance; and two counts of second-degree reckless endangerment.

DiBartolomeo was placed on supervised released with a GPS monitor while his case is decided. DiBartolomeo is due back in court on Oct. 31 and is being represented by Richard Kaufman.