A man from New York City who was charged with killing “The Wire” actor Michael K. Williams by overdosing on drugs pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday. Prosecutors say the man will spend at least five years in prison.
Irvin Cartagena, who is 39 years old and from Brooklyn, is one of four people who have been charged in connection with the death of Williams in 2021. Williams played Omar Little on the popular HBO show. Officials say that Williams died because he took heroin that had fentanyl in it.
The U.S. attorney’s office for Southern New York said in a statement that Cartagena pleaded guilty on Wednesday to plotting to sell heroin, fentanyl, and a fentanyl analogue.
Prosecutors said that Cartagena did the hand-to-hand transaction with Williams on September 5, 2021, the day before he was found dead.
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The U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement that Williams died because he used heroin with fentanyl in it. When Cartagena’s lawyer was asked for a comment Wednesday night, he or she did not answer right away.
The prosecutor’s office said that Cartagena pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy but not to the legal crime of distributing the drugs that led to Williams’ death.
The U.S. attorney’s office says that Cartagena could get anywhere from 5 to 40 years in prison when he is given his sentence. Court records say that the sentencing will happen on August 18.
Officials have said that when police went to Williams’ Brooklyn apartment at 2 p.m. on September 6, they found him dead.
Williams was nominated for an Emmy Award five times, most recently in 2021 for his role as Montrose Freeman in HBO’s “Lovecraft County.”
A medical examiner said that he died from taking too much medicine by accident. Williams had been honest about the trouble he had with drugs.
Court records show that Carlos Macci, one of the other three people charged, pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy on Tuesday. The court date for the sentencing is July 20.
When Macci’s lawyer was asked for a comment Wednesday night, he didn’t answer right away. Court records show that the cases against the other two men are still going on.
