DEFENDANT WHO DEALT FENTANYL-TRAMADOL MIXTURE THAT LED TO THREE OVERDOSES INCLUDING ONE FATAL RECEIVES DIVERSION PLEA DEAL BY JUDGE OVER DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OBJECTIONS

The District Attorney’s Office Recommended 8 Years in Prison

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Omar Aitcheson, 31, of North Amityville, pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of Controlled Substance and other related charges, for selling a fentanyl-tramadol mixture to three Copiague men, which caused the fatal overdose of a 32-year-old man, and the non-fatal overdose of the two others.

“In this case, we requested that the Judge not place a drug dealer who caused a fatal overdose into a diversion program where he will ultimately receive a misdemeanor. Placing a drug dealer who provided poison leading to a fatal overdose into Judicial Diversion is dangerous to the community and a travesty of justice,” said District Attorney Tierney. “The defendant sold what was represented to be cocaine to three unsuspecting victims. All of the victims overdosed and one victim, Igor Piaskowski, died because the substance they ingested contained not cocaine, but rather a lethal mixture of Fentanyl and Tramadol. The criminal justice system has failed Mr. Piaskowski, his family, and the more than one hundred thousand victims who die from opioid overdoses each year.”

According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, on October 8, 2023, Aitcheson sold a fentanyl-tramadol mixture marketed as cocaine to three Copiague men in Suffolk County.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid drug that is 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin, and ingesting just two milligrams can be lethal. Tramadol is a strong opioid pain medication used to treat moderate to severe pain with side effects that can slow or stop breathing.

Believing that they had purchased cocaine, the three men snorted the substance that Aitcheson sold them, and all three immediately experienced symptoms of an opioid overdose. Two of the victims survived while, 32-year-old Igor Piaskowski, was pronounced dead upon his arrival at the hospital. The overdoses prompted law enforcement to commence an investigation into the supplier of the deadly mixture.

While the police investigation was pending, Aitcheson continued to sell narcotics even after he sold the fentanyl-tramadol mixture to the three victims. In October 2023, Aitcheson sold cocaine to undercover detectives on two separate dates. Aitcheson was arrested on October 24, 2023, for the overdose sale as well as the undercover purchases.

On August 13, 2024, Aitcheson pleaded guilty before County Court Judge Philip Goglas to three counts of Criminal Sale of Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, Class B felonies, and three counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, Class B felonies.

Judge Goglas promised Aitcheson admittance into the Court’s Judicial Diversion Program (JDP). If he successfully completes the program after eighteen months, followed by one year probation, Aitcheson will be able to withdraw his guilty plea and have his felony charged dismissed. If he fails, he will be sent to prison for three years followed by two years of post-release supervision, which is still five years fewer than the eight-year sentence originally offered by prosecutors.

The District Attorney’s Office which had recommended Aitcheson serve eight years in prison followed by two years of post-release supervision, vehemently opposed Aitcheson’s admission into the diversion program and requested a hearing on the merits of Aitcheson’s eligibility and appropriateness for the program. The Court held a hearing to determine his eligibility and appropriateness for JDP.

The District Attorney’s Office argued Aitcheson was a drug dealer who not only caused the overdose of three individuals with one resulting in death by selling a fentanyl-tramadol mixture as cocaine, but he also continued selling drugs after these incidents.

The District Attorney’s Office also pointed out at the hearing, and at the time of his admission into JDP, that Aitcheson was not suffering from a substance use disorder at the time he sold the fatal dose, nor was he driven to commit his crimes due to a substance use disorder. In fact, Aitcheson himself admitted to the Court that he had not taken any narcotics since September 2023, a month prior to the sale resulting in the overdoses.

Passed by the New York State legislature in 2009, JDP addresses defendants’ drug or alcohol dependency by providing treatment in lieu of incarceration. In order the be eligible for the program, the defendant must be suffering from substance abuse during the commission of a crime for which they are charged, and it must be demonstrated that the defendant does not pose a safety risk to the community. It is within the discretion of the court to admit or deny a defendant admission to a JPD even if they qualify for the program.

Aitcheson is due back in court on August 20, 2024, and he is being represented by Eric Besso, Esq. 

A letter written by the sister of the victim who died as a result of Aitcheson’s drug sale was presented by the District Attorney’s Office to the court for consideration.  The letter is attached below. In that letter, the victim’s sister likewise opposed the defendant’s admission into the diversion program and opined that a quote used by the defendant to describe himself on social media spoke “volumes” about his “greed and lack of regard for human life.” 

The quote read as follows: “I am the punishment of God…If you had not committed great sins, God would not have a punishment like me upon you.”

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Nicole Felice of the Narcotics Bureau, with investigative assistance from Detective John DeNobrega of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Narcotics Section.

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Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

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