Westbury Man Pleads Guilty to Selling Heroin; Left Buyer as She Overdosed in Parking Lot

Sorrentino pleads to top count against him; will receive 3 ½ years in prison

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that Joseph Sorrentino has pleaded guilty to selling heroin to a woman at a Hicksville Dunkin’ Donuts franchise in exchange for a promised prison sentence of 3 ½ years. The woman later collapsed in the parking lot and nearly died from an overdose.

Sorrentino, 34, of Westbury, pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree. He is scheduled to be sentenced December 4.

Rice said that on July 14, 2008, Sorrentino met up with the victim near the Dunkin’ Donuts on Newbridge Road in Hicksville. After selling the woman $20 worth of heroin, he agreed to inject it for her in the store’s bathroom. Moments after exiting the bathroom, the woman became ill, stumbled out of the store, and collapsed near the side entrance. Sorrentino left her there and walked away. A police sergeant on patrol saw the woman, and she was immediately transferred to Nassau University Medical Center, where she later recovered.

“Heroin usage in Nassau County is on the rise, and we will not hesitate to prosecute those who poison our streets to the fullest extent of the law,” Rice said. “We were fully prepared to take Mr. Sorrentino’s case to trial before he accepted responsibility for his crime.”

Handling the case for the District Attorney’s Office is Assistant District Attorney Jennine Mazzola, of the DA’s Street Narcotics & Gangs Bureau. Sorrentino is being represented by Dale Frederick, Esq.