Nearly five years after overdose victim was found dead in burning car, Mohegan Lake dealer gets more than 24 years

A Mohegan Lake man has been sentenced to more than 24 years in federal prison for a fentanyl sale that resulted in a man's death, as well as charges related to a crack cocaine distribution conspiracy and illegal ammunition possession, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

Perry Freeman, 40, received a sentence of 292 months in prison on Tuesday from U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas. He also was ordered to serve five years of supervised release after his prison term. Freeman pleaded guilty Feb. 11 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause.

“Perry Freeman, a recidivist drug dealer, sold fentanyl to a victim who died shortly after taking the drugs,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. “This office will not rest until the public is safe and that those who peddle this poison have been brought to justice, as Perry Freeman now has.”

Federal prosecutors said Freeman sold fentanyl to a 37-year-old Brian Cobb on or about Nov. 10, 2021.

Later that day, police responded to a vehicle fire in a parking lot in Mohegan Lake. Officers found a Ford Focus engulfed in flames with the victim in the driver's seat. Investigators determined the vehicle overheated after remaining in park with the accelerator pressed for an extended period while the driver was unconscious.

An autopsy by the Westchester County Medical Examiner's Office found lethal levels of fentanyl and its metabolite, norfentanyl, in the victim's blood. The office ruled the cause of death was acute fentanyl intoxication and classified the death as accidental.

According to prosecutors, Freeman also participated in a long-running crack cocaine distribution conspiracy and possessed five shotgun shells despite being prohibited from possessing ammunition because of prior felony convictions, including narcotics convictions in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2022.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from the Yorktown Police Department and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office's White Plains Division.

YPD Detective James Hannigan was instrumental in the response to the case and received several accolades for his work. During an awards ceremony in March 2025, now-retired Police Chief Robert Noble said Hannigan, who was a uniformed patrol officer at the time of the investigation, “shared intelligence that he was investigating a local drug dealer” for “narcotics sales in the Lexington Avenue area [and] continued to gather intelligence and factual information” that the suspect “was continuing to sell narcotics, despite believing that narcotics he had sold caused a fatality.” 

Hannigan connected information gathered at the scene to a local drug distributor, eventually authoring the federal complaint that led to drug distribution charges against Freeman.

The Assistant United States ⁠Attorney and the Southern District of New York issued an arrest warrant for Freeman and Hannigan said he “arrested him shortly after at his house for the federal charges.”

Police Chief Justin Foley emphasized Hannigan’s police work and told Yorktown News that the investigation involved collaboration with community partners, including the DEA, FBI Safe Streets Task Force, Westchester County Police Department Narcotics Unit, Westchester County High Tech Unit and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.

In a statement from his office Thursday, Assemblyman Matt Slater, who was serving as Yorktown supervisor at the time of the incident, praised local law enforcement for its work in the case.

“The sentencing of a repeat drug trafficker who distributed the fentanyl that caused a man’s death in Mohegan Lake brings an important measure of accountability for the victim, his loved ones and our community,” Slater said.

He added that Yorktown police’s “commitment to protecting our community helped lay the foundation for today's outcome, and they deserve tremendous credit.”

Slater said the case also underscores what he believes is a gap in New York state law, noting that federal prosecutors were able to hold the defendant accountable for distributing fentanyl that resulted in a death.

“Our local district attorneys should have that same ability when they can prove that a drug dealer knowingly sold fentanyl or another lethal substance that resulted in someone’s death,” he said.

Slater said that issue is the reason he introduced the Death by Dealer Act, legislation he said would target repeat and predatory drug dealers while not penalizing people struggling with addiction or those seeking emergency assistance during an overdose. He said he’s now renewing his push to pass the act.

“We must continue expanding treatment, recovery and prevention services for those battling addiction. But compassion for those suffering from addiction must be matched with meaningful consequences for repeat and predatory dealers who knowingly sell lethal drugs,” he said. “No family should have to rely on the federal government stepping in to obtain justice. New York prosecutors deserve the tools necessary to protect our communities and hold deadly drug dealers fully accountable.”