Marquis Douglas admitted supplying cocaine, crack-cocaine and heroin and fentanyl, leading to the deaths that shook the North Fork and Shelter Island
The Alfonse M. D'Amato U.S Courthouse in Central Islip. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
A Riverhead man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to a drug conspiracy that led to four fatal overdoses on the North Fork and Shelter Island in August 2021.
Marquis Douglas, 38, admitted supplying cocaine, crack-cocaine and heroin and fentanyl, leading to the deaths that shook the communities.
Appearing before U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert, Douglas admitted supplying a street-level drug dealer with the drugs that caused the deaths of Swainson Brown of Shelter Island, Matthew Lapiana of East Marion, Seth Tramontana of Greenport and Navid Ahmadzadeh of Southold.
"The narcotics I arranged to distribute were used by some of the people resulting in the deaths of four individuals," Douglas told the judge in reading his plea allocution.
The four deaths were among six reported in Southold and Shelter Island towns over an eight-day stretch that August.
In a joint agreement, prosecutors and defense attorney Richard Langone of Garden City will recommend the judge sentence Douglas to 25 years in prison when he learns his fate on April 30. Douglas, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and distribution of a controlled substance causing death, had been facing the possibility of a life sentence if convicted at trial.
“Today, Douglas has admitted his role in a large scale narcotics distribution operation as well as his role in the distribution of fentanyl laced cocaine that led to the deaths of four men in a single day,” United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said in a statement. “We hope today’s guilty plea begins to bring a measure of solace to the victims’ families.”
After entering his plea, Douglas looked back at Lapiana's family members in the courtroom and mouthed "I'm sorry" before shaking his head. The Lapianas declined to comment afterward, saying only that they await the sentencing.
Douglas, who federal authorities said also went by the names "Prince” and “President,” and Jesse Pace, 39, of Riverhead, were charged in a seven-count indictment unsealed in June 2022 in federal court in Central Islip, to which they both initially pleaded not guilty.
Pace later changed his plea and is also scheduled to be sentenced in April, court records show.
Days after the overdose deaths, then-Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini announced that Lavain Creighton, of Greenport, had sold what police believe was fentanyl-laced cocaine that led to the deaths of Brown and Lapiana.
Sini said authorities were able to link Creighton with the fatal overdose victims through text messages and geographical location data. The county cases were later dismissed following the federal indictments.
Langone said Creighton has also pleaded guilty to federal charges and he and Pace were both prepared to testify against Douglas at trial in February. Langone said outside the courtroom that his client, while admitting to selling the drugs, did not personally mix fentanyl into any other substances.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Maffei, who is prosecuting the case with colleague Andrew Wenzel, told Seybert prosecutors would have presented at trial video and audio surveillance of Douglas engaging in drug transactions.
Douglas admitted a series of drug sales spanning across Suffolk County but said during the change of plea hearing that he had mostly engaged in transactions on the East End of Long Island, where he lived.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
