What prosecutors allege happened in the dorm room
Federal prosecutors say Moises Freire brought fentanyl to the dorm room of two women at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology on 18 March. According to the Justice Department, he told them the substance was pure cocaine. Freire was not an FIT student and was visiting the women, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors contend that Freire had referred to the drug as "straight poison" yet still persuaded the women to take it. Both quickly lost consciousness, they said. Prosecutors allege Freire raped one of the women while she was unconscious and overdosing. She went into a coma and died on 21 March, they said. Her friend also overdosed and nearly died, according to the Justice Department statement released Thursday, as reported by The Guardian.
The charges and the three defendants
Freire, 19, of the Bronx, faces counts of participating in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and of distributing a deadly drug with intent to commit rape. Brian Peralta Cabrera, 18, of Queens, is also charged in connection with the drug conspiracy. Updated charges against both men, including the rape allegation against Freire, were filed Thursday.
A third man, Harry Rosales Pino, pleaded guilty on 16 September to plotting to distribute narcotics resulting in death and serious bodily injury. He was tentatively scheduled to be sentenced on 15 December.
All three men were initially charged and pleaded not guilty to earlier charges that did not include the rape allegation. As of Friday, Freire and Peralta had not been arraigned on the superseding charges. Both remain in federal custody while the case proceeds.
What was said at the April hearing
The charging documents do not name the women or identify FIT, which is part of the State University of New York system. A transcript of an April federal court hearing, however, shows that Freire's lawyer, Mitchell Schwartz, mentioned the school by name.
At that hearing, Assistant US Attorney Ariana Bloom of the Southern District of New York described how prosecutors say the drugs moved. Rosales sold the fentanyl to Peralta, Bloom said, Peralta dealt it to Freire, and Freire gave it to the two women.
Bloom also said Freire admitted in writing that he raped the woman who later died while she was unconscious. By his account, she said, he realized only afterward that the woman was unconscious. He then saw her friend on the floor in a similar state, "with her eyes rolled back in her head," Bloom recounted.
According to Bloom, Freire sent pictures of the women to others while they were passed out. She said he waited about 40 minutes before alerting building security and never called an ambulance himself. The women were found to have overdosed after being taken to a hospital, she said.
The prosecution's argument and what comes next
Bloom argued that Freire put his own interests first. "Once things started going south, instead of calling 911 or alerting someone or prioritizing their lives, he took time to take pictures of them and to protect himself," she said at the hearing.
FIT did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday, according to The Guardian. The case now turns to the arraignments of Freire and Peralta on the updated charges, and to Rosales's sentencing, which was tentatively set for 15 December. The allegations against Freire and Peralta have not been tested at trial.
