A Holbrook man was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision after pleading guilty in April to selling fentanyl to a Lake Grove woman who later died of an overdose.
On August 18, 2022, Murray was found unresponsive in the bathroom by her mother, and police responded to the residence. Murray was administered Narcan, which works to reverse the effects of fentanyl, and she regained a pulse. Chelsey was then transported to Stony Brook University Hospital, where she ultimately passed away several days later as a result of a drug overdose.
Following Chelsey’s hospitalization, an undercover detective from the Suffolk County Police Department contacted Jaquan Casserly and arranged for a sale of narcotics. Casserly then sold the undercover detective a combination of heroin and fentanyl contained in a red glassine envelope, which police were able to establish was similar to the one that Murray father Gene found in the bathroom where Chelsey Murray overdosed.
On August 27, 2022, police executed a search warrant at Casserly’s Holbrook residence and recovered a combination of heroin and fentanyl, a digital scale used to weigh narcotics, red and black glassine/wax envelopes used to package narcotics, a pair of metal knuckles, and Casserly’s cell phone. The red envelopes were similar in appearance to the ones sold to the undercover detective. A search of Casserly’s phone showed that he arranged to meet Chelsey on August 17, 2022, offering to sell her “fetty mix,” a street term used to describe a mix of fentanyl and heroin.
Prior to this case, Casserly was previously convicted of Attempted Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree in 2018, and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fourth Degree in 2011.
On April 5, 2024, Casserly pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a Class B felony, before Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski. On May 8, 2024, Casserly was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by three years of post-release supervision.
“This defendant is responsible for cutting a 31-year-old woman’s life short by selling her a deadly mix of fentanyl and heroin,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. “His conviction and sentence remove a dangerous individual from the streets of Suffolk County, but there is more work to be done. I will continue to stand by Chelsey Murray’s heartbroken parents as I urge lawmakers to pass Chelsey’s Law, which provides additional penalties for causing overdose deaths.”
Chelsey’s parents, Gene and Sue Murray recently joined Tierney in Albany in January 2024 to call for New York State lawmakers to pass Chelsey’s Law, which if passed, would allow prosecutors to charge a drug dealer with manslaughter or aggravated manslaughter, for knowingly selling a drug that causes a victim to fatally overdose.