A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced Kenneth Mark Rosado, 40, to 15 years in federal prison after prosecutors said a fentanyl sale he made led to the overdose death of a 21-year-old man from Cary. Rosado was also accused of trafficking dozens of guns into the region, a detail prosecutors tied directly to the broader investigation that produced the federal case.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Rosado pleaded guilty on Oct. 21, 2025, to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. After his gun case was transferred to the Eastern District, he later pleaded guilty to dealing in firearms without a license. Federal prosecutors say he sold 57 firearms between 2023 and 2024. Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II sentenced Rosado to 180 months in prison in cases listed as 5:25-CR-63-M and 5:26-CR-1-M.
As reported by CBS17, Rosado, who had been placed in a drug treatment program after an earlier firearms charge, met the 21-year-old in a Charlotte hotel room in January 2025 and sold him fentanyl. The young man returned to Cary, used the fentanyl and was found dead in his parents' home the next day. Undercover officers later carried out a controlled purchase that linked Rosado to dealer-level quantities, reinforcing the federal case.
Prosecutors, Quote and Agencies
U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle called the arrest and sentence an example of the office's push against dealers who, in his words, "push poison and guns into our communities," adding that the outcome should bring some relief to residents. The Cary Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police all assisted in the investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Legal Details
Rosado's guilty pleas covered federal drug distribution charges tied to a death and a separate firearms offense for dealing without a federal license, handled as two linked federal prosecutions. Court records referenced in the U.S. Attorney's release list the Eastern District case numbers and dockets, where related filings are available to the public.
