The United States Attorney’s Office announced today the unsealing of a indictment charging a Bronx man with causing the death of a 12-year old exposed to fentanyl and two other deaths allegedly caused by the same drug, all four years ago. He was brought into federal custody from New York State custody, where he had been serving sentences for other firearm and drug crimes.
Aristides Cabrera, 35, was charged with the fatal poisoning of Alex DeFilippo and Kyla McCarthy on May 29, 2022 along with being charged in the June 28, 2022 death of a 12-year-old boy.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton alleged in a written statement “Cabrera pumped deadly drugs into the Bronx for years,” resulting in deaths, including “a vulnerable 12-year-old boy in Cabrera’s own home.”
“This case is a devastating example of the danger fentanyl poses,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement, “especially when it is brought into a home with children.”
DEA Special Agent in Charge Christopher Roberts said prosecutors believe Cabrera’s actions “contributed to the tragic loss of three lives, including that of a young person whose future was senselessly stolen.”
Matthew Kluger, an attorney in private practice in the Bronx, was assigned to the case on March 25 through the federal Criminal Justice Act, providing private attorneys to individuals lacking funds for counsel.
“These are just allegations,” Kluger said regarding Cabrera, citing a four-year delay in charges. “Why if these alleged crimes happened in 2022 are they only charging him now in 2026? That should raise a number of eyebrows.”
The case is the latest example of deaths of adults and children exposed to fentanyl, including another case of a child who died at a Bronx daycare.
Prosecutors allege from November 2017 through January 2024, Cabrera and unnamed co-conspirators distributed heroin, fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl, a similar drug, throughout the Bronx.
Cabrera sold heroin and fentanyl to undercover law enforcement officers, prosecutors said, resulting in a covert video in which he sold an undercover officer nearly $2,000 worth of fentanyl-laced heroin.
In the sale, Cabrera was caught by police on the video, prosecutors said. He said he charges higher prices for pills because “it’s a fucking Opioid epidemic out here.” Prosecutors said Cabrera made up to nearly $10,000 weekly from dealing drugs.
They also allege Cabrera stored firearms and narcotics, including fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl, similar to fentanyl, in his apartment, where the 12-year old lived. They say Cabrera stored drugs in a safe in a closet near the bedroom the 12-year-old shared with at least one sibling.
He also stored drugs, including pills, in the primary bedroom, including in bags, according to prosecutors. Cabrera met and sold drugs near the apartment, they said.
On May 29, 2022, Cabrera sold drugs to Alex DeFilippo, one of his relatives, who returned to Kyla McCarthy’s apartment. Internet searches that day on her phone relate to naloxone, a nasal spray known as Narcan, used to reverse potentially deadly Opioid overdoses such as fentanyl.
After one of McCarthy’s family members requested police check on her, NYPD officers conducted a wellness check at the apartment. They found DeFilippo and McCarthy dead, prosecutors said, after taking fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl that prosecutors say Cabrera sold them. Police found an unused dose of Narcan at McCarthy’s feet, prosecutors said.
Less than a month after DeFilippo and McCarthy died, on or around June 28, 2022, a 12-year-old boy allegedly was found by a family member in his bed in Cabrera’s apartment unresponsive and foaming at the mouth.
He was transported to a Bronx hospital, where fentanyl was identified as a cause of death as he was pronounced dead.
Prosecutors allege on June 29, 2022 after returning from the hospital where the boy was pronounced dead, Cabrera looked for a bag where he stored drugs, texting he wanted “to make sure nothing is missing.”
Prosecutors charge Cabrera continued to sell drugs, even while in jail for other firearms and drug charges, resulting in state court convictions.
Cabrera is charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death and three counts of distribution of narcotics resulting in death, each carrying mandatory minimums of 20 years and maximums of life in prison, although judges determine and impose sentences.
