By FRED SHUSTER | City News Service
LOS ANGELES — A Westwood man is expected to plead guilty next week to providing counterfeit drugs containing fentanyl to Mac Miller prior to the hip-hop performer’s overdose death.
Stephen Walter, 48, is one of three people charged in the death of the rapper, who suffered a fatal overdose in Studio City on Sept. 7, 2018.
Walter is expected to plead guilty Monday via Zoom to a federal charge of distribution of fentanyl and agree to a prison sentence of 17 years, according to his plea agreement.
Two co-defendants, Cameron James Pettit and Ryan Michael Reavis, are scheduled to go to trial in March.
Prosecutors allege that Walter, Reavis and Pettit distributed narcotics to 26-year-old Malcolm James McCormick — who recorded and performed under the name Mac Miller — two days before the performer overdosed.
The indictment alleges that Pettit ordered the fentanyl-laced pills from Walter, and Reavis delivered the narcotics to Pettit, who sold the drugs to Miller.
Reavis, 38, of Lake Havasu, Arizona, and Pettit, 30, of West Hollywood, previously pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles federal court.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles declined comment.
According to communications detailed in court papers, late on the night of Sept. 4, 2018, Pettit agreed to supply Miller with 30-milligram oxycodone pills, as well as cocaine and the sedative Xanax. But instead of providing the rapper with genuine oxycodone when he made the delivery, Pettit allegedly sold Miller counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin.
Two days after Pettit allegedly supplied Miller with the fentanyl-laced pills, the rapper died at his home. An affidavit alleges that hours after news outlets reported Miller’s death, Pettit sent a message to a friend saying, “Most likely I will die in jail.”
Investigators believe that Miller died after snorting the counterfeit oxycodone pills that had been provided by Pettit, according to the affidavit. While another person allegedly supplied Miller with other drugs prior to his death, according to the affidavit, those pills did not contain fentanyl.
Weeks after Miller’s death, Walter agreed to sell Pettit 10 “blues” — a street name for the painkiller Percocet, according to the indictment, which also alleges other drug deals between the two men, one as recently as two months ago.
Miller began rapping at 14 and built a large following before signing with the label of fellow Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa. Miller released five studio albums and a series of mixtapes during his career. His final album, “Swimming,” was released on Warner Records just a month before his death.
Source: Orange County Register
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