Rashied Smith of Central Islip, Qhamel Dickerson of Huntington Station sentenced to prison for selling fentanyl that resulted in 2 separate overdose deaths

A Central Islip man who sold crack cocaine and fentanyl to a woman who fatally overdosed on the drugs was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office said. 

Suffolk police arrested Rashied Smith, 41, shortly after a 43-year-old woman who bought the drugs died from an overdose at a house in Mastic on June 23, the district attorney’s office said.

Smith’s sentencing comes a month after Qhamel Dickerson, 28, of Huntington Station was sentenced on April 18 to five years in prison for selling counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl to a 23-year-old woman who fatally overdosed in East Northport. 

“The fentanyl epidemic has claimed the lives of two more innocent women, and the unfortunate reality is that this problem will continue to worsen without action,” Tierney said. “The dangers of fentanyl are not breaking news anymore.”

Suffolk police who responded to the Mastic home after the woman died in June recovered the victim’s cellphone, which contained text messages between her and Smith from the night before her death. Smith agreed to sell her the drugs, and police learned that he met with her in Central Islip to complete the transaction, prosecutors said.

Within 48 hours of the victim’s death, Smith sold crack to an undercover detective. A search warrant was executed at his home, where police found the cellphone he used to negotiate drug deals with the victim and the detective, officials said.

Police also found an illegal loaded Taurus semiautomatic firearm, crack cocaine, and a digital scale used for weighing narcotics for sale. Smith was arrested on June 29.

Smith pleaded guilty before Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro on April 7 to two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and one count of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, Tierney said. Smith’s attorney, Lonnie Hart, did not immediately return a request for comment. 

Dickerson pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Anthony Senft to two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance on March 10, prosecutors said.

“Mr. Dickerson was devastated by the death of the woman involved and has every intention of staying away from illicit narcotics after he completes his sentence,” said Scott Zerner, Dickerson’s attorney.

Tierney said investigators were also able to identify Dickerson through text messages found on the victim’s phone. He sold the woman on July 4 what looked like oxycodone pills but actually contained fentanyl, prosecutors said.

In August, Dickerson used the same phone to arrange a drug deal with an undercover Suffolk detective, officials said. Tierney said Dickerson met with the undercover detective and sold them counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl. He was arrested on Sept. 1, 2022.