Slingerlands Man Pleads Guilty to Oxycodone Conspiracy

Stanislav Petkevichus, 28, of Slingerlands, New York, stood before federal prosecutors and admitted his role in a tight-knit oxycodone distribution ring that pulsed through the Capital Region from late 2015 into early 2016. The plea, entered today in Albany, marks a decisive blow in a DEA-led crackdown on prescription pill trafficking that has gripped communities across the Northern District of New York.

According to court documents, Petkevichus admitted to conspiring with at least one co-conspirator to obtain and resell approximately 200 oxycodone tablets. The deal went down between November 2015 and January 2016, with the drugs funneled into the underground economy for cash—a pattern all too familiar in the opioid crisis now ravaging suburban and rural neighborhoods alike.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, led by Richard S. Hartunian, announced the guilty plea as part of a broader push to dismantle small-scale but high-impact drug networks. Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt of the DEA’s New York Division emphasized that even non-cartel-level operations fuel deadly addiction and overdose. “This wasn’t a kingpin,” Hunt said, “but every pill pushed by guys like Petkevichus kills.

Petkevichus now stares down a potential 20-year federal prison sentence. On February 22, 2017, U.S. District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino will decide his fate. He also faces up to 3 years of supervised release if and when he walks out of prison. Under federal sentencing law, the judge will weigh the statutory penalties, U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and the specifics of the crime.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Coffman is handling the prosecution, building the case on direct admissions from Petkevichus under oath. No plea deal details have been released, but the government’s confidence in its evidence appears absolute. The investigation was conducted entirely by the Drug Enforcement Administration, whose surveillance and informant work continue to root out illicit networks hiding in plain sight.

The case underscores a grim reality: opioid trafficking isn’t just flooding in from abroad—it’s being orchestrated in suburban homes and backroom exchanges. Petkevichus’s guilty plea may be one conviction, but for law enforcement, it’s another crack in the pipeline feeding a national epidemic.