NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City drug dealer who admitted providing the fentanyl-laced heroin that killed a prominent transgender activist was sentenced Tuesday to 19 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.
Michael Kuilan, 45, of Brooklyn, was also ordered to pay $24,482 in restitution and forfeit $30,000 and a seized firearm.
“Cecilia Gentili was tragically poisoned from fentanyl-laced heroin,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella said in a statement. “Today, the perpetrators who sold the deadly drugs to Gentili are being held accountable.”
Kuilan had three prior state felony convictions related to selling heroin before he pleaded guilty to the federal charges last year, according to prosecutors.
He faced up to 20 years in prison for the drug distribution charge and up to 35 years for unlawful possession of a firearm as a felon at his sentencing in Brooklyn federal court.
Kuilan’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
His co-defendant, Antonio Venti, 53, of Long Island, was sentenced in February to five years in federal prison after also pleading guilty to the same drug offense last year.
Prosecutors said text messages, cell site data, and other evidence showed that Kuilan had supplied Venti with drugs that he then sold to Gentili.
The 52-year-old Brooklyn resident was found dead in her bedroom from the combined effect of fentanyl, heroin, xylazine and cocaine on Feb. 6, 2024 — the day after purchasing the drugs, according to prosecutors.
The former sex worker had been a leading advocate for other transgender people, as well as sex workers and people with HIV.
She also acted in the FX television series “Pose,” about the underground ballroom dance scene in the 1980s and 1990s.
Gentili’s well-attended funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan drew outrage from some in the Catholic community, including from the venerable church’s own pastor.
