Federal prosecutors announced Friday, Aug. 1, that a 34-year-old Bronx man, Estherlyn Frias, a/k/a “Platinum,” a/k/a “Silver,” was charged with drug dealing resulting in death in connection with the “overdose” of a victim in Greenwich, Connecticut last month. Prosecutors allege the man ran the drug operation out of his partner’s home where a young child slept in close proximity to deadly narcotics.

 

The case brings to mind the tragic death of one-year-old Nicholas Feliz Dominici who died of an accidental fentanyl overdose on Sept. 15, 2023 in the Kingsbridge Heights section of The Bronx at El Divino Nino daycare center, where a drug operation was being run and was later uncovered. Several people, including Grei Mendez, the female daycare operator, were subsequently convicted of various offenses, including murder, following the incident.

 

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Frank A. Tarentino, special agent in charge of the New York division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) said the case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Kevin P. Castel.

 

“As alleged, Estherlyn Frias has been pumping deadly drugs into our communities for years, including fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and more,” said Clayton. “The drugs that he sold claimed someone’s life, and it appears they may have claimed others before. Shockingly, Frias appears to have stored his significant drug supply in an apartment where his two young children lived with him, mere feet away from where they slept.

 

He continued, “Our communities’ suffering from this kind of personal profit ends now. As the charges in this case show, together with our law enforcement partners, we will relentlessly pursue those who distribute illegal drugs.”

 

For his part, Tarentino said, “Another senseless death at the hands of an individual pushing illicit narcotics laced with fentanyl. As alleged, Estherlyn Frias repeatedly trafficked and sold fentanyl laced products, going so far as to recklessly stash these deadly drugs in a bedroom where his children slept.”

 

He added, “While today’s indictment against Mr. Frias will not bring back the person whose life was lost; it undoubtably represents a step towards justice and likely saved countless others.  The DEA is committed to saving lives and will continue to work alongside our law enforcement partners in targeting those responsible for poisoning our communities and destroying families.”

According to the court filings and statements made during court proceedings, from at least in or about January 2023, through at least in or about July 2025, Frias and others conspired to distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl, para-fluorofentanyl, cocaine base, cocaine, heroin, and methadone, including from his apartment in The Bronx. The court heard that Frias allegedly used that apartment, where his girlfriend and two young children lived, as a stash house, where he stored significant quantities of a variety of narcotics.

 

Prosecutors allege that as a consequence of the group’s actions, Victim-1 died from acute fentanyl and cocaine intoxication on or about July 1. They allege  Victim-1 met Frias outside Frias’s apartment the day before to buy drugs. They allege that within about twelve hours of their meeting, Victim-1 died from consuming fentanyl and cocaine purchased from Frias.

 

They further allege that Frias had been selling Victim-1 drugs for weeks in the lead-up to dealing the drugs that killed Victim-1. Attached below are screenshots of text messages taken from Victim-1’s phone in which Frias, saved in Victim-1’s phone under his alias “Platinum,” sent Victim-1 a menu of the drugs that he had for sale, among them “soft” (heroin), “hard” (cocaine), “down” (fentanyl), and “everything.”

 

Prosecutors said law enforcement searched Frias’s apartment on the night of Victim-1’s death, based on a search warrant, and there, they found, among other things, various pieces of evidence.

 

They included 1,413 white glassine envelopes containing fentanyl; 603 purple glassine envelopes containing fentanyl; two plastic bags containing fentanyl; a third plastic bag containing fentanyl; 585 pink glassine envelopes containing para-fluorofentanyl; a plastic bag containing heroin; and a second plastic bag containing heroin.

They also included two plastic bags containing crystal methamphetamine; a third plastic bag containing methamphetamine; 777 colored capsules containing crack cocaine; and 20 plastic bottles containing methadone. Prosecutors said law enforcement also recovered various drug paraphernalia, including bulk packages of empty capsules, a digital scale, and a ledger summarizing Frias’s drug deals.

 

They said additional records from Frias’s phones include two videos, both of which show Frias walking into his apartment bedroom to retrieve drugs. They said in both videos, Frias walks past a bed in which a young child can be seen asleep. They said in both videos, after passing the bed, Frias pans the camera to a dresser, mere feet from where his children slept, covered in drugs, cash, and drug paraphernalia, including, in one video, a digital scale on which a plastic bag containing a white substance is resting and seen in the attached screenshot.

 

They said Frias is charged with one count of conspiring to distribute narcotics resulting in death, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of possession with intent to distribute narcotics, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; and one count of possession with intent to distribute narcotics resulting in death, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

 

The statutory minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

 

Clayton praised what he called the outstanding investigative work of the DEA and the Greenwich Police Department. This case is being handled by the narcotics unit of the Office of U.S. Attorneys for the Southern District of New York, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebecca R. Delfiner and Benjamin M. Burkett are leading the prosecution.

 

Frias is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.