Nassau County Man Sentenced For Pennsylvania’s Fatal Overdoses
Friday, January 24, 2025, 7:45 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
SCRANTON, PA.- On Tuesday, a 49-year-old Nassau County, New York, man learned he would be spending the next two decades in federal prison for selling fentanyl-laced cocaine to three Monroe County residents, causing two to fatally overdose and a third who barely survived a fatal overdose.
On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, Eric Francis Butler, 49, of Nassau County, New York, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani to 240 months in federal prison, to be immediately followed by four years of supervised release for his previously entered guilty plea to the Distribution of Fentanyl Resulting in Death and Serious Bodily Injury.
According To The U.S. Attorney’s Office
According to Acting U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus and documents filed with the court, in 2019, Butler traveled from New York to Monroe County, Pennsylvania, and set up a drug distribution hub. During a two-week period of time in July into August 2019, Butler’s sales of fentanyl resulted in the fatal overdose deaths of two individuals in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, and the near-death of another individual who survived only by being administered doses of Narcan.
Butler was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on January 11, 2022, and was subsequently taken into custody by federal agents in Nassau County, New York. On November 7, 2023, Butler appeared at the U.S. District Federal Court in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl and Cocaine; and the Distribution of Fentanyl Resulting in Death and Serious Bodily Injury.
Acting U.S. Attorney Gurganus commended the investigative work of the Pocono Township Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which led to the arrest and successful prosecution of Butler.
