Photo Courtesy of DEA
During a total of 11 transactions at different locations in Queens between Jan. 11 and June 6, 2022, Echeverry sold 99 pills purported to be Percocet and 1,010 pills purported to be oxycodone to the undercover “buyer.”
By Forum Staff
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Justin Echeverry was sentenced on Monday to eight years in prison for selling more than 1,100 fentanyl pills and a loaded firearm to an undercover officer last year. He was also sentenced to a concurrent sentence of one to three years in prison for shooting a man in the leg during a separate incident.
Echeverry, 19, of Flushing, pleaded guilty last month to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree and assault in the second degree in two separate cases. Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino sentenced Echeverry to eight years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. Echeverry also pleaded guilty on Monday to criminal possession of a firearm in a separate case and was sentenced to a concurrent sentence of one to three years in prison. As part of the plea, Echeverry was ordered to forfeit $18,210.
File Photo
Justin Echeverry was sentenced this week to eight years in prison.
According to the charges:
- The defendant met with an undercover detective posing as a “buyer” on Jan. 11, 2022. The defendant sold five pills purported to be Percocet to the “buyer.”
- During a total of 11 transactions at different locations in Queens between Jan. 11 and June 6, 2022, Echeverry sold 99 pills purported to be Percocet and 1,010 pills purported to be oxycodone to the undercover “buyer.”
- Laboratory testing of the seized narcotics revealed that each pill contained fentanyl.
- During Echeverry’s final meeting with the “buyer,” he sold the officer a loaded .22-caliber Smith and Wesson firearm.
- On March 14, 2022, he shot a 26-year-old rival in the leg during an argument on 90th Street in Jackson Heights.
- During a court-authorized search of Echeverry’s home on Aug. 31, 2022, investigators recovered two 9 mm semi-automatic ghost guns, a .22-caliber revolver, a PA-15 assault weapon, $18,210 in cash and an array of ammunition.
“For endangering our communities by dealing deadly narcotics and lethal weaponry, this merchant of death is going to prison. We will hold accountable anyone threatening the safety of our neighborhoods,” Katz said.
