A 31-year-old Bronx man was sentenced on March 13 to 15 years in prison for paying for commercial sex with a 16-year-old minor using fentanyl-laced pills that resulted in the death of a 19-year-old victim, a friend of the minor. Both victims ingested the fentanyl. The minor became ill but survived.  

 

Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Virgil Wardlow previously pled guilty to one count of distribution of narcotics before by U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, who imposed the sentence.  

 

In the context of the announcement, Williams said, “The consequences of the defendant’s conduct are heart-wrenching. The defendant paid for sex with a 16-year-old victim using fentanyl-laced pills, which the victim’s 19-year-old friend then ingested, poisoning her and causing her death.” 

 

He continued, “Today’s sentence sends a powerful message to those who traffic deadly drugs to vulnerable victims and demonstrates that this Office will seek justice for families facing the horrific tragedy of losing a loved one to fentanyl poisoning and for victims of child sexual exploitation.”

 

According to court filings and statements made in court proceedings, Wardlow engaged in a pattern of paying for commercial sex with black market pills that contained fentanyl. On or about March 25, 2023, at a hotel room in the Bronx, Wardlow provided two of those pills to the 16-year-old female minor (“Victim-1”) in exchange for sex with her.

 

The court heard that after Wardlow had sex with the minor and then left the hotel room, Victim-1 and her 19-year-old female friend (“Victim-2”) ingested the pills provided by Wardlow, and thereafter, Victim-1 became ill, and Victim-2 became unconscious and died of drug poisoning.

 

The court also heard that between at least on or about Feb. 8, 2023, and on or about April 24, 2023, Wardlow exchanged several messages with other individuals in which he offered to provide pills in exchange for sex or money. Wardlow sent these messages using an anonymized cellphone number that masked his identity from his intended victims.

 

According to prosecution officials, in addition to the prison term, Wardlow was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $17,000 in connection with the funeral expenses of Victim-2.

 

Williams praised what he described as “the outstanding investigative work” of the New York State Police, the NYPD, and special agents from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

 

The case was handled by the federal prosecutor’s general crimes unit and narcotics unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey W. Coyle was in charge of the prosecution.