Dealer Connected to Artist Mac Miller's Fentanyl Overdose Recives 17-Year Sentence
On Monday, a federal judge sentenced one of the individuals who knowingly supplied Hip-Hop Artist Mac Miller with oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl to 210 months or 17.5 years in federal prison.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California reported that Stephen Walter, age 49, agreed to plead guilty to one count of fentanyl distribution in exchange for a lighter sentence. In his plea agreement, Walter admitted that Miller would not have died if the pills presented to him by co-defendants Cameron Pettit and Ryan Reavis at Walter's direction had not contained fentanyl.
Federal prosecutors accused Walter of supplying counterfeit oxycodone pills to Reavis, who allegedly gave Pettit the counterfeit pills. Walter testified in court that he had ordered Reavis to deliver the pills to Pettit, believing Pettit intended to use the pills for himself and not sell them to anyone else. Miller allegedly negotiated with Pettit to buy oxycodone but instead was supplied with fentanyl-laced pills. Miller was found unresponsive two days later at his home, on September 7, 2018.
Walter’s plea bargain offered a sentence of 17 years in exchange for the defendant's admission of guilt, a reduction from the mandatory minimum of 20 years in federal prison for fentanyl distribution. Upon release from custody, the court will also recommend that Walter complete a 500-hour residential drug abuse program and participate in outpatient treatment.
Last month, Reavis was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison following his guilty plea to a single-count superseding indictment charging him with fentanyl distribution. The case against Pettit, however, is still pending. Pettit has not yet entered into any agreements and maintains a non-guilty plea.