24-Year Prison Sentence After Burning Car Death In The Hudson Valley

A disturbing Hudson Valley fentanyl case has ended with a long prison sentence after investigators uncovered what happened inside a burning car.

A Westchester County man has been sentenced to more than 24 years in federal prison for selling fentanyl that led to a customer's death.

Westchester Drug Dealer Sentenced To Over 24 Years After Fentanyl Sale Led To Horrific Death

brown mallet on gray wooden surface

Perry Freeman, 40, of Mohegan Lake, was sentenced to 292 months in prison after selling fentanyl to 37-year-old Brian Cobb of Yorktown, who was later found dead behind the wheel of a burning car in a parking lot.

On November 10, 2021, Freeman sold fentanyl to Cobb. Shortly after the sale, police responded to reports of a burning car in a parking lot in Mohegan Lake, approximately a three-minute drive from Freeman's apartment.

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When they arrived, they found a Ford Focus engulfed in flames with the victim in the driver's seat, his foot still on the accelerator pedal. After firefighters extinguished the blaze, the victim was pulled from the car, and he was pronounced dead.

burning grey sedan near trees and signboard at night

Investigators determined the car caught fire after overheating while the engine ran with the accelerator continuously depressed, meaning the victim had passed out with his foot on the gas while the car was in park.

The Westchester County Medical Examiner's Office found lethal levels of fentanyl and norfentanyl, a metabolite of fentanyl, in the victim's blood. Darkening of the lungs indicated the victim had inhaled smoke before dying.

The official cause of death was certified as acute fentanyl intoxication and accident.

A Long Criminal History

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Freeman is no stranger to the criminal justice system. He has prior felony convictions for narcotics offenses in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2022. Despite those convictions, which legally barred him from possessing firearms or ammunition, investigators found five shotgun shells in his apartment.

Prosecutors also established that Freeman had been conspiring to distribute crack cocaine over a period of years in addition to dealing fentanyl.

"Perry Freeman, a recidivist drug dealer, sold fentanyl to a victim who died shortly after taking the drugs," McDonald said. "This office will not rest until the public is safe and those who peddle this poison have been brought to justice, as Perry Freeman now has," U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald told Hudson Valley Post.

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