STUDIO CITY—Three men were indicted by a Los Angeles federal grand jury on Wednesday, October 2, for the death of rapper Mac Miller, 26, who passed away last year of an accidental drug overdose.
Cameron James Pettit, 28, of West Hollywood; Stephen Andrew Walter, 46, of Westwood; and Ryan Michael Reavis, 36, of Lake Havasu, Arizona had priors related to drug offenses before the recent indictment. Pettit, Walker and Reavis have not submitted a plea.
Walter is also being charged with possession of ammunition which could result in a 10-year sentence.
The indictment accuses Pettit, Walter and Reavis of conspiring and distributing cocaine and oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl. Court documents allege that on September 5, 2018 Pettit sold Miller cocaine, Xanax, and 10 blue pills commonly referred to as “blues” which is a street term for oxycodone. The blue pills were reported to be oxycodone, but were laced with fentanyl. Fentanyl is a strong opioid that is 50 times more powerful than heroin.
Two days after the drug deal was made, Miller was found dead in his Studio City home. Detectives believe that Miller snorted the fentanyl-laced oxycodone pills causing his death. Another individual supplied Miller with other narcotics, but they did nor contain fentanyl according to prosecutors. After his death, the coroner confirmed that Miller’s death was caused by a mixed drug toxicity involving fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol.
The indictment cites a text Reavis sent in June regarding a conversation about a drug trafficking activity that read:
“People have been dying from fake blues left and right, you better believe law enforcement is using informants and undercover to buy them on the street…they can start putting (people) in prison for life for selling fake pills.”
According to U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna, fentanyl is the number one cause of overdose deaths in the United States because of the rise in sales of counterfeit pharmaceutical pills. Hanna alleges that the three men continued to sell fake drugs after the knowledge of Miller’s death with, “the full knowledge of the risks their products posed to human life.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, all three face a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison with the possibility of life without parole. The arraignment for Pettit and Walter is scheduled for Thursday, October 10 in Downtown Los Angeles. Reavis was taken into custody on September 26 and is currently being transported to Los Angeles.
