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 city Medical Examiner’s office ruled Aron’s death a homicide, caused by acute mixed drug intoxication including fentanyl.
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.
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.”
Federal prosecutors say Katzin ran a ring of drug dealers who peddled fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin to customers throughout the city and Sklar was one of her underlings.
Sklar drove Katzin and other members of the conspiracy as they made drug deliveries, made deliveries himself, and served as a middleman in drug transactions, according to the feds.
He also got drugs from Katzin for both Aron’s mother and his personal use, the feds allege, and the night before the boy’s death, phone records show Sklar asking Katzin, “Are you around I need the regular,” before he headed to Katzin’s home.
Katzin got a $50 transfer from an account under the name of Sklar’s father and Sklar shot Aron’s mom a text, “Just grabbed the rock as well where are you,” the feds allege.
About four hours before little Aron’s overdose, the boy’s mother sent a message to Sklar asking where the “rock” was and Sklar responded, “Sorry coming up,” the feds allege.
Aron’s mother, Miriam Elkayam, 27, told the Daily News Tuesday she’d never heard of Katzin and denied that Sklar had anything to do with her son’s death.
“I can tell you right now, he’s not a dealer,” she said of Sklar, who she has been married to for seven years. “He’s not some big drug dealer, all right? He’s not.”
Elkayam and Sklar were both arrested the day after their son’s death for fentanyl possession and acting in a manner injurious to a child. She was released without bail and is due back in Brooklyn Supreme Court next month in that case.
“We didn’t kill our own son,” she told The News Tuesday. “Not intentionally, not on accident, not on purpose.”
She and Sklar were staying in the shelter while trying to get a housing voucher for an apartment, she said.
A GoFundMe she created last May titled “Help Miriam Cope with Aron’s Loss” and asking for $12,000 has brought in $249 from eight donors as of Tuesday.
Both Katzin and Sklar 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.
