Scranton Man Sentenced For Selling Fentanyl Laced Cocaine That Killed Teen

Thursday, April 17, 2025, 11:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

SCRANTON, NJ.- A 30-year-old Scranton, Pennsylvania, man, learned on last Friday, that he will be spending the 24 years in federal prison after he was sentenced for selling fentanyl-laced cocaine the tragically claimed the life of a 17-year-old boy in August of 2021.

     On Friday, April 11, 2025, Federico Rosario, 30, of Scranton, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani to 288 months in federal prison for his conviction of Distribution of Controlled Substances Resulting in Death.

According To The U.S. Attorney’s Office

     According to Acting U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus and evidence presented at trial, in July of 2021, Rosario sold small amounts of cocaine to a 17-year-old boy. On August 11, 2021, Rosario met and sold the teen just a little under a half gram of what Rosario represented was cocaine. Less than thirty minutes later, after consuming a portion of the cocaine, the boy sent Rosario a message asking what in the cocaine because it had him “spinning” as though he was drunk.

     Receiving no response from Rosario, the boy sent a follow-up message to Rosario eight seconds later. Rosario never responded or took any other action in response to the boy’s messages. The next morning, family members found boy dead inside his bedroom.

     Laboratory analysis of the remaining cocaine discovered in the room that was sold by Rosario determined to be a mixture of cocaine and fentanyl. A subsequent autopsy and post-mortem toxicology confirmed the presence of fatal levels of fentanyl in the teen’s system at the time of death. 

     During a four-day trial in Federal Court in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the jury heard expert testimony that established that but for toxic level of fentanyl, which is fifty to one hundreds time more potent than morphine, the otherwise healthy teen would have not died.

     At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found Rosario guilty on three counts of Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substances; and one count of Drug Distribution Resulting in Death.