David Grimaldi, Fentanyl Distribution, Rhode Island 2020

PROVIDENCE – A deadly game of cat and mouse played out in a West Warwick parking lot, where a 24-year-old man from Coventry sold fentanyl-laced pills to a Massachusetts man who would eventually die.

David Grimaldi, 24, of Coventry, pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court in Providence to distribution of fentanyl, admitting to the Court that he engaged the assistance of an associate, Robert K. Bell, 24, of Warwick, who pleaded guilty on Wednesday to aiding and abetting the distribution of fentanyl, to help him locate a buyer for pills that he wanted to sell.

According to information presented to the Court, based on the arrangements made by Bell, Grimaldi met that buyer in a West Warwick parking lot, where he distributed three pills marked and colored to look like oxycodone tablets. In reality, the pills were laced with fentanyl. Grimaldi admitted that he watched while the buyer swallowed half of one pill. Minutes later, the buyer, a Massachusetts man, became unresponsive. He was subsequently pronounced dead later that day at Kent County Hospital. Fentanyl was found in his bloodstream.

At a separate hearing before Chief Judge Smith immediately after Grimaldi’s plea, Bell likewise admitted to his role in arranging for the drug transaction, including the type of drug to be delivered, the price, and the time and location for the meeting.

Both defendants admitted that their criminal actions contributed to the death of the buyer.

Grimaldi and Bell’s guilty pleas are announced by United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman, West Warwick Police Chief Colonel Mark A. Knott, and Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New England Field Division Brian D. Boyle.

Grimaldi and Bell will be sentenced by Chief Judge Smith on January 28, 2020. The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul F. Daly, Jr., and Zachary A. Cunha. The matter was investigated by the West Warwick Police Department and the Rhode Island DEA Drug Task Force.

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