The gang used dating apps to connect with individuals in search of prostitutes, and offered them drugs secretly laced with fentanyl before robbing them.
Seven alleged members of a drug and gun trafficking ring tied to the fentanyl overdose deaths of four individuals have been indicted by a federal grand jury, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced on July 12.
They are accused of using dating apps to connect with individuals in search of prostitutes with the intent to rob them of their cash, credit cards, cell phones, identification documents, drugs, guns, and other valuables.
The group, which law enforcement dubbed the “fentanyl robbery gang,” operates from New Hampshire to Virginia and has some ties to New York gangs, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam.
To incapacitate their victims, the gang members purportedly offered them drugs secretly laced with fentanyl. If their target refused the drugs, the group would introduce them into the individual’s body by forcible or surreptitious means.
If the fentanyl did not take effect quickly enough, they would pivot to committing home-invasion robberies at gunpoint or through other violent means, such as threats, beatings, and aggravated assault.
The crimes of which they stand accused include conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance resulting in death and serious bodily injury, distributing fentanyl resulting in death and serious bodily injury, brandishing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, kidnapping, and aggravated identity theft.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, just 2 mg of fentanyl can be lethal depending on a person’s size, tolerance, and past usage of the drug.
The indictment links four fentanyl overdose deaths—three in Pennsylvania’s Berks and Luzerne counties and one in Portsmouth, New Hampshire—to the gang’s activities.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Todd K. Hinkley and Luisa Honora Berti are prosecuting the case.
Those named in the indictment include Amanda Marie Correa, 29, Robert Andrew Barnes, 24, Christine Deann DiCarlo, 50, Shaqare Jaymont Blackwell, 23, Shakur Serafin Brownstein, 27, Dylan Wilson Small, 35, and Samual Jordan, 42.
The charges come as the result of a joint investigation conducted by the FBI; Pennsylvania State Police; the Scranton office of the U.S. Marshals Service; the District Attorney Offices of Pike, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wyoming, and Berks counties in Pennsylvania; the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Police Department; the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office; and multiple other state and local law enforcement agencies.
The investigation remains ongoing as officers continue to search for additional suspects and victims. Those with relevant information are encouraged to contact the FBI at 570-344-2404.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.