A New York man faces life after prosecutors say he gave fentanyl to an FIT student, assaulted her while unconscious, and texted nude photos rather than calling help.
Moises Freire, 19, is charged in the death of Fashion Institute of Technology student Annabel Richter after court papers describe a night of alleged fentanyl dosing, sexual assault of an unconscious victim, and a delay that left her without immediate aid.
The New York Post reported that prosecutors tie Freire to fentanyl given as purported cocaine in Richter’s Manhattan dorm, sex with her while she was out cold, and photos sent to friends before campus security was called.
Richter never woke up. She died March 21.
Freire is being held without bail. He faces a minimum of 20 years and up to life if convicted, with a trial pending in March 2027.
On the night of March 18, prosecutors say Freire gave fentanyl to Richter and her roommate inside the FIT dorm in Chelsea.
He allegedly presented the drug as cocaine from Mexico. Both women lost consciousness right away and were taken to a hospital.
Court papers say Freire had tried the same substance a week earlier and likened it to “poison” in a text to a friend.
Campus security later found acute fentanyl intoxication. Officers gave emergency care and Narcan, the overdose-reversal drug, before the women were transported.
Richter, known to family as Bel, never regained consciousness. She died three days after the overdose.
Federal charging papers allege Freire did not contact campus security for about 45 minutes.
In that window, prosecutors say, he texted photos of the unconscious women to friends. One image showed the woman he allegedly assaulted naked below the waist.
When security arrived, he allegedly claimed the two women had simply drunk too much.
He also allegedly told authorities he did not notice Richter was passed out until after he finished having sex with her.
Prosecutor Ariana Bloom rejected that account at an April court hearing, pointing to body-worn camera video of Freire with campus security.
"It is truly hard to believe that the defendant, who seemed entirely coherent and sober at the time, who didn’t have any of the substance, who is captured on the security guard’s body-worn camera seeming coherent and sober, didn’t know what was going on when he was having sex with the victim who was completely unconscious,"
Bloom told the court.
Freire is due back in court Oct. 28 for arraignment on upgraded counts of distributing a controlled substance with intent to commit rape, plus other narcotics charges.
He is not an FIT student. Manhattan federal prosecutors are handling the case. He remains locked up without bail through the scheduled March 2027 trial.
His attorney told the court earlier this year that Freire had a consensual “sexual relationship” with Richter in the year before her death. That claim does not answer the core allegation: sex with a woman prosecutors say was fully unconscious after a fentanyl dose he provided.
Two other men face related narcotics cases. Brian Peralta Cabrera, 18, of Queens, was charged with narcotics conspiracy for allegedly helping Freire obtain the fentanyl. Harry Rosales Pino pleaded guilty to narcotics distribution resulting in death.
Richter’s mother, Flavia Rocha, spoke while mourning her daughter.
"Annabel was full of life,"
Rocha said.
"She knew loads about music and art and had a contagious laughter. Her presence filled the room. For us, her family and her friends, she was and always will be, our beloved Bel."
She tied her daughter’s death to a wider fight for women who are harmed and then sidelined.
"I don’t want to think of a world in which crimes against women would be too many to count. Bel and I would often discuss how women who suffered violence would rarely have a voice. I hope that Annabel’s story brings awareness, and meets justice."
Lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment when the family spoke publicly after the papers were unsealed.
The sequence in the court papers is blunt. A drug sold as cocaine. Two students down in a dorm room. A defendant who, prosecutors say, stayed coherent on camera. Photos of unconscious women moved by text. A nearly hour-long gap before campus security got the call. A false alcohol story. Narcan on the floor. One young woman dead by March 21.
Freire faces decades to life if a jury backs the government’s case. Cabrera’s conspiracy case and Pino’s guilty plea sit beside it in the same fentanyl chain.
FIT’s campus security did what first responders are supposed to do once they were finally brought in: identify a fentanyl emergency, reverse the overdose threat as best they could, and move the victims to a hospital. The charge sheet says the man who allegedly brought the drug into that room spent the critical minutes on his phone.
Justice in this case will turn on evidence, not spin. The photos, the texts, the body-worn camera, the toxicology, and the timeline are now in front of a court that can impose a life term.
When a student is left unconscious after a spiked dose, the bare minimum is an immediate call for help, not a photo thread to friends.
