A heartless dad was arrested Tuesday for causing the fentanyl overdose of his 4-year-old son in a Brooklyn family shelter — and then running to hide a bag of heroin and fentanyl as his son lay dying, federal prosecutors said.
Yitzchok “Isak” Sklar, 34, is charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death in the case of his son, little Aron Sklar, in a Women In Need (WIN) shelter in East Flatbush back on March 4.
His accused supplier, Ahuva Katzin, 33, was hit with the same charge Tuesday. The boy’s death has been ruled a homicide by the city Medical Examiner after they determined he was killed by fentanyl in his system.
Even after little Aron’s death, Sklar and Katzin kept selling deadly drugs, with the two sending messages to each other agreeing to watch what they said about the boy’s fate, according to court documents.
Sklar was staying at the shelter on Glenwood Road near Schenectady Ave. with Aron’s mother when he called a volunteer emergency medical service about 7:15 a.m. to say his son was foaming at the mouth and making unusual noises, according to federal prosecutors.
He was then captured on video running out of the shelter to hide a black bag and returning empty-handed a few moments later, according to the feds.
Medics showed up and found little Aron in the throes of an apparent opioid overdose and the tot’s mother told an EMT fentanyl was present inside. The EMT asked whether the fentanyl was in pill or powder form, and Sklar answered, “It’s a rock,” according to court filings.
Investigators found the bag in a nearby BMW X5 SUV rented by Sklar, and discovered substances that tested positive for fentanyl, para-fluorofentanyl and heroin inside, the feds allege.
Little Aron died just before 6 p.m. that day at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. An autopsy would later determine that fentanyl caused the boy’s death, according to prosecutors.
In the days after his death, Katzin messaged someone that the boy’s family was saying he died of a “respiratory infection” but noted she was “also a little spooked if you know what I’m talking about,” the feds allege.
On March 13, Katzin warned Sklar, “I was trying to say one thing to you, but you kept talking. The main thing that the lawyer said was whatever you do don’t talk to anyone about anything about the case. Nobody not on the phone not in person,” the feds allege.
Sklar later replied to her, “You absolutely right and I am very careful with my words and I’ll be extra careful and that’s what I meant when I kept texting you earlier stop texting me stop texting everyone stop talking.”
Both of them kept on dealing drugs after Aron’s death and the feds found pills and packing materials in Katzin’s Brooklyn apartment when they searched it Tuesday, the feds allege.
Katzin and Sklar both face a mandatory minimum 20-year sentence and a maximum life sentence if they’re convicted.
