Packets of ‘Breaking Bad’ entered as evidence
WHITE PLAINS – A Hopewell Junction man faces 20 years to life in federal prison for selling heroin and fentanyl that caused the deaths of three people.
Dennis Sica, 37, pled guilty Monday to participating in a conspiracy to distribute the drugs, the use of which killed Anthony Delello, Laura Brown and Thomas Miller.
According to the allegations and court proceedings, from at least 2013 to February 2014, Sica and others worked together in Dutchess County to sell a potent form of heroin, bags of which were stamped with the brand name “Breaking Bad.” Some of the drugs distributed by Sica were laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is much stronger than street heroin.
On the night of December 28, 2013, Sica sold “Breaking Bad” heroin to Anthony Delello, 20, of Beekman. He snorted some of the drug and was found dead by his girlfriend the next day. The Dutchess County Medical Examiner’s report said he died from “acute heroin intoxication.”
Four days after Delello was found dead, Sica exchanged text messages with a co-conspirator urging him to delete the text message history in the phone they used to sell heroin, and if asked, to deny knowing anything about Delello or how he died.
A month later, two more individuals died after overdosing on “Breaking Bad” heroin.
On February 2, 2014, Thomas Miller, 31, was found dead by his mother at his home in Pawling. A hypodermic needle as well as several glassine bags stamped with the words “Breaking Bad,” were found near his body. Some of the bags were empty. A chemical analysis found the drugs were a mixture of quinine, fentanyl and heroin. The medical examiner determined Miller died of “acute intoxication by the combined efforts of heroin of fentanyl.”
The same day Miller was found dead, Laura Brown, 35, was found dead of an apparent heroin overdose in Hew Milford, Connecticut. She was found with needles and glassine bags near her body. Several of the bags were stamped “Breaking Bad.” The autopsy showed she died of “acute heroin and fentanyl intoxication.”
According to Brown’s brother, he and Brown together bought “Breaking Bad” heroin from Sica two days before Brown was found dead.
Sica was arrested on February 2, 2014 in East Fishkill after a car in which he was riding was stopped by police. During a search of the vehicle, police found several bags of drugs stamped “Breaking Bad” identical to the one that appears on the envelopes recovered from Miller’s bedroom.
