Woman Arrested In Connection With Death Of Robert De Niro's Grandson: Reports

A woman was arrested in New York City on Thursday night in a drug dealing investigation connected to the death of Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, law enforcement sources told several news outlets.

Sofia Haley Marks, 20, has been federally charged with drug distribution and is scheduled for arraignment at a Manhattan federal court on Friday, according to ABC News.

De Niro Rodriguez was found dead at age 19 in a lower Manhattan apartment on July 2. He died after taking “fentanyl laced pills,” according to his mother, actor Drena De Niro, who is the daughter of two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro.

Marks was arrested during an undercover sting operation by the New York Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the New York Post reported. The joint task force’s investigation is reportedly ongoing.

Marks is believed to have sold drugs to De Niro Rodriguez, according to ABC News.

Investigators have reportedly been looking into De Niro Rodriguez’s death as a possible drug overdose. However, an official cause of death has not been revealed.

“Someone sold him fentanyl laced pills that they knew were laced yet still sold them to him so for all these people still fucking around selling and buying this shit, my son is gone forever,” Drena De Niro wrote in the comments of an Instagram post last week.

Robert De Niro said in a July 3 statement he was “deeply distressed by the passing of my beloved grandson Leo” and asked for privacy to grieve.

De Niro Rodriguez’s father, artist Carlos Mare, said “words aren’t enough to express the joy he gave us or the loss we now endure with our families and friends.”

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, is the most common drug involved in overdose deaths in New York City, according to NYC Health.