A Rosedale man, who is accused of dumping an unconscious overdose victim in the snow in Floral Park in February 2022, pleaded guilty to drug charges in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday.
Charles McGriff, 45, admitted he distributed fentanyl and acknowledged in the plea agreement that his sale of drugs to the victim just over two years ago caused her serious bodily injury. McGriff, who has been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since he was arrested by federal agents in October, now faces up to two decades in federal prison at sentencing.
McGriff, who worked at JFK Airport transporting mail sent through the airport as an employee of Alliance Ground International, dealt deadly fentanyl to the woman who ingested it believing it was heroin, causing her to suffer a near-fatal overdose while inside McGriff’s vehicle on the night of Feb. 3, 2022, according to court document.
After the victim became unconscious in the back seat directly behind McGriff, who pulled his car over by the side of a road in Floral Park and dumped her in a snow bank before driving away from the scene. A good Samaritan saw McGriff leaving the victim for dead before speeding off and called the Floral Park Police Department. Officers arrived and administered life-saving medicine. If not for the actions of the good Samaritan and the police officers, the woman might have died from the overdose, the cold or both, according to U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.
He added that the evidence against McGriff was “overwhelming.” including video that captured his actions, records revealing multiple phone calls and messages between him and the victim, including shortly before he picked her up in Valley Stream just over the Queens border from his Rosedale home.
Although McGriff avoided arrest by law enforcement before he was taken into custody by federal agents in October, Peace said he “has a long history of dealing dangerous narcotics in the community,” with dozens of messages on his iCloud account discussing the sale of narcotics, including heroin and crack cocaine. McGriff “clearly reaped the benefits of a long-standing high-volume drug dealing enterprise, according to Peace. When McGriff was arrested he was driving a red Maserati luxury sedan that was registered in his name.
“Such access to funds cannot be explained by the defendant’s current employment at JFK International Airport,” Peace wrote in court documents, adding that McGriff also engaged in witness intimidation, contacting the victim demanding to know what she told police who saved her on Feb. 3, 2022.
A sentencing date has not been set yet by U.S. Magistrate Judge Marcia M. Henry, who is expected to impose 20 years imprisonment in federal prison.
