MOHEGAN LAKE, NY — A notorious Westchester County drug trafficker has been sentenced for distributing fentanyl that killed a Hudson Valley man.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jamie McDonald has announced that 40-year-old Perry Freeman, of Mohegan Lake, was sentenced to 292 months in prison for distributing fentanyl that resulted in the death of a Westchester County resident, conspiring to distribute crack cocaine, and illegally possessing ammunition.
Freeman pleaded guilty On Feb. 11.
"Perry Freeman, a recidivist drug dealer, sold fentanyl to a victim who died shortly after taking the drugs," McDonald said. "This Office will not rest until the public is safe and that those who peddle this poison have been brought to justice, as Perry Freeman now has."
On Nov. 10, 2021, Freeman sold fentanyl to his victim, a 37-year-old man.
Soon after, the police responded to a report of a burning car in a parking lot in Mohegan Lake, approximately a three-minute drive from Freeman's apartment building at the time. They found a Ford Focus on fire. The victim was in the driver's seat with his foot on the accelerator pedal.
After firefighters put the fire out, the victim, who was already dead, was pulled out. Investigators ruled that the car had caught fire after overheating while the accelerator pedal was depressed for an excessive period of time while the car was in park, while the victim was likely passed out in the driver's seat with his foot on the pedal.
The Westchester County Medical Examiner's Office performed an autopsy. The victim had lethal levels of both fentanyl and norfentanyl (a metabolite of fentanyl) in his blood, and there was some darkening of the victim's lungs, which indicated smoke inhalation before his death.
The victim's cause of death was certified as both acute fentanyl intoxication and the fire.
Freeman also admitted to conspiring to distribute crack cocaine over a period of years and possessed five shotgun shells in his apartment despite being prohibited from doing so due to prior felony convictions, including convictions for narcotics offenses in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2022.
In addition to the prison sentence, Freeman was sentenced to five years of supervised release.
McDonald praised the investigative work of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Yorktown Police Department for their assistance in the investigation. The case is being handled by the Office's White Plains Division.
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