She Drugged Four Men to Rob Them. But Three Never Woke Up

A New York woman who admitted using fentanyl-laced drugs to incapacitate four men before robbing them has been sentenced to 27 years to life in state prison. Three of the men died.

Tabitha Bundrick, 39, pleaded guilty Sept. 8 to three counts of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree assault, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. A judge imposed the sentence Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The encounters stretched from April 2023 through February 2024, but prosecutors described a recurring method: Bundrick supplied men with drugs containing fentanyl, waited until they were unconscious, and took their belongings.

Phones, money, watches, clothing, and sneakers disappeared. Three families were eventually left grieving Mario Paullan, Miguel Navez, and Abrihan Fernandez.

The First Night

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The first encounter began April 30, 2023, when Bundrick approached two men on a Washington Heights street while pretending to sell soap.

She then offered sex in exchange for money and led the men into an empty apartment on West 159th Street that she had broken into, according to prosecutors.

Inside, Bundrick gave them drugs she represented as cocaine. The substances contained fentanyl.

One of the men woke the following morning with no memory of what had happened and discovered that personal property was missing. Beside him, 42-year-old Mario Paullan was dead.

Bundrick later used the surviving man’s stolen cellphone to make calls.

Five Months Later

Another man encountered Bundrick in Washington Heights on Sept. 27, 2023.

She went with 39-year-old Miguel Navez to his apartment on West 158th Street and gave him fentanyl-laced drugs.

Navez’s brother found him dead three days later. His phone and other belongings were gone.

Once again, prosecutors were able to place stolen property back in Bundrick’s hands: she used Navez’s cellphone to make personal calls.

One More Apartment

The third fatal encounter began Feb. 25, 2024.

Bundrick followed 34-year-old Abrihan Fernandez as he walked toward his apartment building on West 144th Street in Upper Manhattan. The two spoke outside before going upstairs.

Bundrick gave Fernandez fentanyl-laced drugs, then began moving in and out of the building over the following hours.

Prosecutors said she rigged the building door so she could enter more easily and carried several large bags from Fernandez’s apartment, including his backpack. She then took a cab back to her own apartment.

Fernandez’s credit card was used several times over the following days.

Inside Her Home

Police arrested Bundrick on March 5, 2024, while executing a search warrant at her apartment.

Four pairs of sneakers belonging to the victims were recovered inside.

The state prosecution eventually ended with Bundrick admitting responsibility rather than proceeding to trial. Her Sept. 8 plea covered the deaths of Paullan, Navez, and Fernandez, along with the assault on the man who survived the first encounter.

Bundrick had already received a separate 13-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to two narcotics-distribution counts connected to the same underlying conduct, The New York Times reported. Her state sentence will run concurrently with the federal term.

Families Return

Relatives of the three men returned to court for Bundrick’s sentencing.

CBS News New York reported that Bundrick received 25 years to life on each murder conviction, with those sentences running concurrently, followed by a consecutive two-year sentence on the assault conviction.

Bundrick apologized in court and attributed her decisions to her drug addiction.

“This wasn’t supposed to be this way,” she said, according to CBS. “I was suffering from a drug addiction that has caused me to make bad choices and bad decisions just to get high.”

Fernandez’s mother, Brijida Rodriguez, brought her son’s class ring to court. She showed the ring while addressing Bundrick and said it was something Bundrick had been unable to remove from her son’s finger.

Paullan’s and Navez’s relatives also spoke about the men they had lost.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the crimes had left three families devastated.

“I hope this prison sentence will allow for some measure of healing,” Bragg said.