Prosecutors File Updated Charges After Fatal Fentanyl Overdose at College

Federal prosecutors filed updated charges Thursday against two men after a student at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology died from a fentanyl overdose. Prosecutors allege that one of the men gave her the drug and raped her while she was unconscious. Another student who took the drug survived.

Moises Freire, 19, of the Bronx, brought the fentanyl to the women’s Manhattan residence hall on March 18, according to prosecutors. He told one woman it was “pure cocaine” from Mexico and falsely assured her it contained no fentanyl, according to the charges described by NBC News. Prosecutors say both women quickly lost consciousness after taking it.

Freire then raped one woman while the other lay unconscious nearby, prosecutors allege. The woman who was raped died on March 21 from complications of acute fentanyl intoxication. The charging documents do not name either woman.

The Guardian reported that updated charges against Freire and Brian Peralta Cabrera, 18, of Queens, were filed Thursday and included a rape allegation against Freire. NBC News reported that an indictment charged Freire with conspiracy, distributing a controlled substance with intent to commit rape, and distributing narcotics resulting in death. NBC described Peralta’s conspiracy charge as involving narcotics resulting in death and serious bodily injury; the sources do not specify the counts in his updated filing.

Both men pleaded not guilty to earlier charges that omitted the rape allegation, The Guardian reported. They had not been arraigned on the updated charges as of Friday and remained in federal custody. Lawyers for the two men did not immediately return NBC News’ requests for comment.

Prosecutors say Freire obtained the fentanyl from Peralta and knew what it was. He had previously called the drug “fake” and “poison,” according to the charges described by NBC. Despite that, prosecutors allege, he encouraged both women to take it.

After the alleged rape, Freire took naked photographs of the woman and sent them to friends, according to NBC’s account of the indictment. Prosecutors said he waited about 45 minutes before contacting campus security and told officers the women had drunk too much. At an April court hearing, a prosecutor put the delay at about 40 minutes, The Guardian reported.

Campus security provided emergency care before the women were taken to a hospital. Only one regained consciousness, prosecutors said.

At the April hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ariana Bloom said Freire had acknowledged in writing that he had sex with the woman while she was unconscious, though his account was that he realized her condition only afterward, The Guardian reported. Bloom said he never called an ambulance. “Once things started going south, instead of calling 911 or alerting someone or prioritizing their lives, he took time to take pictures of them and to protect himself,” she argued.

A third man, Harry Rosales Pino, pleaded guilty in September to conspiring to distribute narcotics resulting in death and serious bodily injury, according to The Guardian. At the April hearing, a prosecutor said Rosales sold the fentanyl to Peralta, who supplied it to Freire. Rosales was tentatively scheduled to be sentenced on December 15.

The charging documents do not identify the college as FIT, but Freire’s lawyer mentioned it by name at the April hearing, according to The Guardian. The college did not immediately respond to requests for comment from either outlet.