A Hollywood Hills man has been arrested for allegedly supplying rapper Mac Miller with fentanyl-laced pills just before the hip-hop star died of a drug overdose last year, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Cameron James Pettit, 28, was taken into custody today by special agents with the DEA and officers with the LAPD.
He’s charged with one count of distribution of a controlled substance for allegedly providing Miller, real name Malcolm James McCormick, with fake oxycodone pills, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
“Investigators believe that McCormick died after snorting the counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl and that those pills had been provided by Pettit,” the press release said.
Related Story: Lamar Odom Says He Suffered 12 Strokes After Overdose
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Pettit agreed to supply Miller with oxycodone pills, cocaine and the sedative Xanax.
But Instead of providing the rapper with real oxycodone on the morning of September 5, Pettit is alleged to have sold him counterfeit pills that contained fentanyl – a powerful synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin.
The rapper suffered a fatal overdose at his home in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles on September 7, 2018, two days after buying the pills, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Fentanyl disguised as a genuine pharmaceutical is a killer – which is being proven every day in America,” said United States Attorney Nick Hanna. “Drugs laced with cheap and potent fentanyl are increasingly common, and we owe it to the victims and their families to aggressively target the drug dealers that cause these overdose deaths.”
Prosecutors believe another individual supplied Miller with additional narcotics before his death, but those drugs did not contain fentanyl.
Miller was best known for the singles Self Care, and Dang! The Pittsburgh native was 26 at the time of his death, and had been open in the past about his struggles with substance abuse.
The Los Angeles County coroner determined he died of drug toxicity involving fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol.
Hours after the rapper’s death made headlines, Pettit is alleged to have sent a friend a message saying, “Most likely I will die in jail.”
If convicted of the drug trafficking charge, he faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.
Discover more from Urban Hollywood 411
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.