A man was arrested for selling a fatal dose of crack cocaine to a recovering drug addict found dead inside a Manhattan transitional housing facility, officials said Tuesday.
Surveillance footage inside the building shows Matthew Spatola, 37, handing the victim narcotics around 9 a.m. on June 26, according to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The suspect was then spotted entering and exiting the victim’s room twice that afternoon.
A short time later, her lifeless body was discovered beside a glassine envelope and pipe that tested positive for cocaine.
The victim’s name has not been released.
“Matthew Spatola provided lethal narcotics to a woman in the very building where she was living to escape addiction,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. “But even her death did not stop Spatola from allegedly continuing to deal drugs, exposing particularly vulnerable neighbors fighting for their own recovery to the same life-threatening poison that killed her.”
On July 14, police recovered narcotics, including crack, heroin and fentanyl, during a raid of Spatola’s Manhattan home.
Spatola was charged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday with distribution of narcotics resulting in death and distribution and possession with intent to distribute narcotics, officials said. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on the top charge.
“Matthew Spatola callously preyed on individuals at a transitional housing facility in Manhattan,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch. “The defendant sold the drugs that resulted in one resident’s death and continued to distribute them even after her demise, caring more for money than human life. This individual is now being held accountable and can no longer sell his poison on our streets.”