Narcotics Dealer Sentenced To 21 Years In Prison For Sale Of Heroin And Fentanyl That Resulted In Manhattan Man’s Overdose Death

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that DASHAWN HAWKINS, a/k/a “Jhonny Cash,” of New York, New York, was sentenced yesterday to 21 years in prison by United States District Judge Gregory H. Woods for selling heroin and fentanyl that resulted in the overdose death of Colin Cameron, age 29, of New York, New York, on September 2, 2016. 

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman stated:  “Dashawn Hawkins sold the lethal dose of fentanyl-laced heroin that cut short Colin Cameron’s life.  Now Hawkins has received the lengthy sentence warranted by his serious crime and its grim consequences.”

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in related court proceedings:

On or about September 1, 2016, DASHAWN HAWKINS, a/k/a “Jhonny Cash,” sold a mixture of heroin and fentanyl to Colin Cameron.  The next morning, New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) officers responded to Cameron’s apartment on the Upper West Side, where they found Cameron dead from a drug overdose.  In the month leading up to Cameron’s death, HAWKINS had sold heroin to Cameron nearly a dozen times, and had previously sold heroin to Cameron on a daily basis for almost two years before Cameron was able to maintain sobriety for several months.  In early August 2016, however, HAWKINS contacted Cameron out of the blue in order to start selling him heroin again.  Cameron told HAWKINS that he was unsure about buying heroin because he was on a medicine designed to block the effects of opioids.  This medicine is commonly prescribed for people going through recovery.  Despite this knowledge, HAWKINS sold heroin to Cameron throughout the month of August until Cameron’s eventual death.

After identifying HAWKINS as the dealer who sold Cameron the fatal dose of fentanyl-laced heroin, the NYPD arrested HAWKINS on October 20, 2016, and searched his apartment.  During the search, officers found, among other things, additional bags of heroin and substances used to cut heroin, fentanyl packaging, over $14,000 in cash, and a short-barreled rifle with a high-capacity magazine loaded with 34 rounds of ammunition.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the New York City Police Department.