Charles 'Chase' Carter of Amityville pleads guilty to conspiring to sell fentanyl in deaths of 2 people

An Amityville man pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to conspiring to sell fentanyl, admitting the deadly fentanyl he sold contributed to the drug overdose deaths of two victims in 2020 and 2021, prosecutors said.

Charles “Chase” Carter, 34, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl before U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown. He faces between 5 and 40 years in prison at sentencing.

Carter’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

“Carter’s fentanyl sales contributed to the overdose deaths of a man and a woman, which only added to pain and anguish caused by an opioid epidemic that has harmed so many on Long Island,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “The defendant’s guilty plea today is the result of the relentless efforts by this Office and our law enforcement partners to prosecute traffickers dealing lethal drugs for profit and bring justice for the victims and families devastated by the scourge of fentanyl.”

Carter forfeited approximately $3,200 in seized narcotics sales proceeds and a 2009 Jeep Patriot he used to facilitate narcotics sales as part of the plea agreement.

Between August 2020 and February 2021, prosecutors said, Carter sold more than 40 grams of fentanyl to two overdose victims and an undercover detective from the Glen Cove Police Department.

Carter sold fentanyl to one overdose victim, a 23-year-old woman, in Glen Cove about two days before her Aug. 6, 2020, death, prosecutors said. And a 40-year-old man who lived in Farmingdale died of an overdose on Feb. 5, 2021, and had purchased fentanyl from Carter “shortly before” his death, prosecutors said.

On Jan. 21, 2021, Carter wrote text messages to the man, stating “im. (sic) around and I got the good stuff[.] Do u (sic) need to see me..??”

Autopsies performed on both victims revealed traces of fentanyl in their bodies, prosecutors said.

Frank A. Tarentino, special agent-in-charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York Division, said Carter contributed to the fentanyl crisis during the pandemic.

“During the COVID pandemic, when the world was focused on saving lives and the public’s health, Carter was making plans to sell ‘the good stuff’ which ended lives and fueled the fentanyl crisis," Tarentino said.

The increase in overdose deaths has been driven in large part by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has been described as 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.