Phillip Gonzalez, of Selden, had enough fentanyl to kill more than 2 million people, Suffolk DA Ray Tierney says

A grand jury indicted an accused Selden drug trafficker on 25 felony counts of drugs and weapons charges after Suffolk County prosecutors said he was found with enough fentanyl to kill 2.2 million people.

Phillip Gonzalez, 42, was charged as a major drug trafficker in possession of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and ketamine. He was also charged with intent to sell and possession of two loaded firearms and an illegal ammunition magazine.

The drugs seized from Gonzalez’s home were valued at more than $360,000, prosecutors said.

Suffolk County police arrested Gonzalez on Feb. 26, following the Feb. 17 overdose of two brothers in East Patchogue, one of whom was found dead when police arrived, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

"These cases start with a tragedy — unfortunately we have a young person who has succumbed to drugs — and we have to work feverishly from there to try to hold individuals responsible," Tierney said, announcing the charges Thursday.

Gonzalez appeared briefly in a Riverhead courtroom Thursday, but his arraignment was postponed until Monday so he could find an attorney. Suffolk Supreme Court Justice John B. Collins ordered Gonzalez remanded without bail until his arraignment.

If convicted, he could face between 15 years and life in prison.

Prosecutors did not name the fatal overdose victim or give his age. The father of the two brothers attended a news conference announcing the charges Thursday, but declined to comment or identify himself.

Tierney said state laws prevent his office from filing charges against drug dealers that can be tied to an overdose.

Suffolk County police and district attorney investigators said they responded to an East Patchogue home following a call about a possible drug overdose. There, one of the brothers was pronounced dead and the other was taken to NYU Langone hospital in Patchogue. 

Police recovered two glass vials, one including cocaine next to the deceased brother's body, and another in his pocket containing fentanyl, Tierney said. Authorities were still investigating which drug may have caused the overdose.

Suffolk police found two cellphones next to the victim, connecting the drugs to a dealer named "Yash." Undercover detectives used the number to arrange a meeting with Gonzalez to buy cocaine, Tierney said.

A few days later, detectives arranged another cocaine deal, which led to a search warrant of Gonzalez’s rental town home in Selden, where police found 4 ½ kilograms of fentanyl, half of which was mixed with Xylazine, a legal sedative commonly used by veterinarians as a livestock tranquilizer, prosecutors said.

Drugs like Xylazine, known as "tranq," are often mixed with fentanyl and cocaine to dilute the drugs to increase profits for dealers, Tierney said.

The results can also be deadly and the mixture of drugs may be more difficult to identify. An overdose of the tranquilizer cannot be reversed like some opioids by Narcan, the district attorney said.

Police said they also recovered 1.5 kilograms of crystal meth from Gonzalez’s home, 223 grams of a drug known as "tusi," or "pink cocaine," that’s a mixture of ketamine and MDMA, better known as ecstasy.

Tierney and Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina warned about the potential for additional overdoses at nightclubs or parties, especially in the summer on Long Island.

"All of these different substances that are now in the drug supply really put everybody in extreme danger," Catalina said. 

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.