NEW YORK – A 20-year-old woman has been arrested on federal drug charges and is accused of selling the drugs that led to the death of actor Robert De Niro’s 19-year-old grandson, a police official said Friday.
The woman, Sofia Haley Marks, appeared in federal court in Manhattan on Friday and agreed to remain behind bars until she later requests bail. Prosecutors said they would deny a request for release.
Marks was arrested Thursday night on three counts of drug distribution related to the sale of drugs to Leandro DeNiro Rodriguezsaid the police officer. The officer was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Rodriguez was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on July 2. His mother, Drena De Niro, announced the death on Instagram. Amy Gallicchio, an assistant federal defense attorney who represented Marks on Friday, said Marks planned to hire an attorney. Gallicchio declined to comment outside of court.
US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that at least one of the counterfeit oxycodone pills sold by Marks “was taken by a teenager who later died of a suspected overdose.” Rodriguez was not named in court documents.
Williams said the arrest was “critical because, we claim, Marks knew the pills could be deadly and she continued to sell them anyway.”
The prosecutor said fentanyl is now the leading killer of Americans ages 18 to 49 An estimated 109,680 people died from drug overdoses in 2022, including about 75,000 from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.
“More than cancer, car accidents or gun violence. This is a law enforcement and public health crisis. And we’re doing everything we can to stop it,” he said.
Rodriguez’s cause of death is still under investigation, a spokesman for the city’s investigative agency said.
When Drena De Niro announced her son’s death, she responded to a question on her post by writing that her son died after “someone sold him fentanyl-laced pills.”
Rodriguez was the eldest child of Drena De Niro and artist Carlos Mare.
Like his famous grandfather, Rodriguez was an actor who appeared with his mother in projects such as Bradley Cooper’s 2018 remake of “A Star is Born.”
Robert De Niro said after Rodriguez’s death that he was “deeply saddened by the passing of my beloved grandson Leo.” A representative for him did not immediately respond to a message asking for comment on the arrest.
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Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister contributed to his report.
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