A pair of suspected drug dealers have been hit with nearly 50 charges after they allegedly tried to smuggle court documents infused with fentanyl, cocaine, and PCP into jail, New York City officials said.
In June 2023, 37-year-old Adam Kamagate was charged for the February death of his infant son, who investigators believe suffered from fentanyl and cocaine poisoning in his dad’s Staten Island home according to the New York Post. He was indicted on second-degree manslaughter, as well as multiple drug charges last year.
District Attorney Michael McMahon pointed these allegations out in court on Thursday, as Kamagate and his alleged accomplice, Curtis Braswell, were indicted on the new drug charges.
Braswell, also 37, is accused of delivering court papers that had been soaked in a liquid form of fentanyl, cocaine, and PCP to Kamagate, a Rikers Island inmate, while he was at Staten Island’s Supreme Courthouse.
Through listening to phone calls that Kamagate made from Rikers in September, corrections investigators became aware of the scheme and confiscated the laced paperwork, prosecutors said.
Police later learned that this was the pair’s third attempt — they had allegedly tried to pull the same trick on at least two other occasions while Kamagate was locked up over the summer.
“As the fentanyl crisis rages across our nation and here at home we are all too familiar with the lengths those involved in the drug trade will go to avoid detection. But this plot was a new and terrible surprise,” said McMahon.
“Despite the pair’s depraved creativity, it was ultimately no match for my office and our partners in the Department of Correction, who through incredible investigative work rooted out their plan and now intend to hold them fully accountable while sending a message to the rest of the city and nation of this new threat.”
Kamagate was handed down 21 criminal charges before returning to Rikers, and Braswell got 26, as well as a $1 million bail.
The 47 charges include “first-degree promoting prison contraband and multiple charges of criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance,” the Post reported.
Kamagate faces up to 30 years in prison if found guilty of his new charges, and his manslaughter case is still open. If convicted, Braswell also faces up to 20 years.
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