Long Island man indicted for trafficking enough fentanyl to kill 2.5M people
Adriano Abreu Bonifacio, 39, was arrested in December after Suffolk County Police became suspicious of a package addressed to his Deer Park home.
The package, a white box sent from California, was addressed to a man named Miguel Perez, authorities said.
After California officials flagged the package, they sent it to the Suffolk County Police Department for further investigation.
With the help of a narcotics-trained dog, police found that the package contained five kilograms of fentanyl.
The following day, an undercover officer with the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force disguised as a delivery driver knocked on Bonifacio's door to deliver the package.
Bonifacio told the officer that he was Perez's friend and was authorized to receive the package on his behalf. He was arrested after accepting it.
Investigators later confirmed that a person named Miguel Perez did not live at that address.
A Suffolk County grand jury indicted Bonifacio on one count each of operating as a major trafficker, first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Bonifacio pleaded not guilty in Suffolk District Court on Wednesday. He faces 15 years to life if convicted.
'This indictment represents our office's unwavering commitment to combating the fentanyl overdose crisis,' District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said, according to Patch Deer Park-North Babylon.
Bonifacio's attorney, Javier Solano, told Newsday his client doesn't speak English well and may have misunderstood what the officer asked him.
'I have confidence that the prosecutors in this case made an unfortunate error,' Solano told the newspaper.
Bonifacio is being held on $500,000 cash bail. He's expected back in court on March 13.
Solano did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
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