Passaic County, N.J., Man Sentenced To 51 Months In Prison For Conspiring To Distribute Black Market Painkillers

NEWARK, N.J. – A Passaic County, N.J., man was sentenced today to 51 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute the prescription painkiller Oxycodone and MDMA, an illegal drug commonly known as “ecstasy,” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Following a six-day trial before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in December 2012, a jury found Bahadir Yahsi, 30, of Paterson, N.J., guilty on all five counts charged against him in the Second Superseding Indictment: One count of conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute quantities of Oxycodone and ecstasy; one count of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute Oxycodone; and three counts of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute ecstasy.

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

Starting in June 2010 and continuing through October 2010, Yahsi conspired with Ersin Eroglu, a fellow Paterson resident, and others to illegally traffic black market Oxycodone pills and large quantities of ecstasy. On Sept. 30, 2010, Yahsi set up and carried out an illegal drug transaction with Eroglu, during which Yahsi and Eroglu dealt 96 80-milligram black market Oxycodone pills in the vicinity of Paterson, near the border with Clifton, N.J. After the illegal drug deal, which Yahsi and Eroglu intended to be a 100-pill transaction, Yahsi ensured that Eroglu distributed the remaining four 80-milligram Oxycodone pills in October 2010, at a subsequent black market Oxycodone deal carried out by Eroglu. Also, in August 2010, Yahsi dealt ecstasy pills on three separate occasions, in Paterson on August 15, 19 and 25, 2010.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Linares sentenced Yahsi to three years of supervised release.

Eroglu pleaded guilty to distribution charges, including the Sept. 30, 2010, illegal distribution with Yahsi, and was previously sentenced to 24 months in prison.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge David Velazquez in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shirley U. Emehelu and Special Litigation Counsel Mark J. McCarren of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark.

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Defense counsel: Catherine M. Brown Esq., Morristown, N.J., and Paulette Pitt Esq., Woodbridge, N.J.