5 males have been arrested in reference to the unintentional 2023 drug overdose of 19-year-old Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, the grandson of performing legend Robert De Niro, the Drug Enforcement Administration introduced Thursday in a press convention.
“In the present day we acknowledge that justice was sought and served within the tragic overdose deaths and poisonings of our most susceptible — our youngsters,” said New York DEA special agent in charge Frank Tarentino. “Bailey Shaw, 18. Akira Stein, 19. Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, 19.”
“Taken from us far too quickly,” he continued.
In response to court docket paperwork obtained by JS, the defendants have been a part of a “prison community that distributed 1000’s of counterfeit prescription opioid capsules laced with fentanyl, amongst different medicine” to New York Metropolis youngsters and adults.
The defendants — Grant McIver, Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barreto, John and Roy Nicolas — every face one depend of conspiracy to distribute a managed substance leading to dying. The DEA notes this carries a compulsory minimal sentence of 20 years in jail.
Rodriguez was discovered useless in a Manhattan condominium on July 2, 2023, from the “poisonous” mixture of fentanyl, alprazolam, 7-aminoclonazepam, ketamine, bromazolam and cocaine, an autopsy confirmed.
Rodriguez isn’t named within the indictment, although his age and date of dying align with the doc’s description of “Sufferer-3.” The following press convention Thursday confirmed the 5 new arrests have been made in connection together with his and two different deaths.
“Sufferer-1” seems to be Stein, the late daughter of Blondie co-founder Chris Stein, who was additionally 19 when she overdosed in May 2023. “Sufferer-2,” doubtlessly Shaw, died the following month. Sophia Marks, then 20, was arrested in July 2023 in reference to Rodriguez’s dying.
Dubbed the “Percocet Princess,” she was booked on federal drug distribution costs.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/Related Press
Tarentino stated Thursday, “Whereas no verdict, sentence or ruling can ever actually erase the ache of those losses, these … operations affirm that accountability issues. In the present day … we’re in a position to present these households … some solutions to their long-awaited query: ‘Why?’”
De Niro stated in an announcement someday after his grandson was discovered that he was “deeply distressed” and requested for privateness. Rodriguez was the one youngster of the Oscar winner’s oldest daughter, Drena De Niro — who printed an emotional Instagram publish on the time.
“I’ve beloved you past phrases or description from the second I felt you in my stomach,” she wrote in a caption accompanying his photo. “You’ve been my pleasure my coronary heart and all that was ever pure and actual in my life. I want I used to be with you proper now. I want I used to be with you.”
De Niro told People in 2024, “It’s only a shock.” [I] by no means thought it will occur.”
“And I simply then began excited about all of the issues I might have, ought to have executed possibly with him,” he continued on the time. “I don’t know if that will’ve made a distinction. And in order that’s at all times enjoying by way of my thoughts. It shouldn’t have occurred.”
Need assistance with substance use dysfunction or psychological well being points? Within the U.S., name 800-662-HELP (4357) for the SAMHSA National Helpline.
