UPDATE: E! News has learned Cameron James Petitt appeared in court on Thursday, where a judge ordered he be held without bond. He is due for arraignment on Oct. 11.
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Almost exactly one year after Mac Miller‘s death, a man has been charged in connection with his passing.
Cameron James Pettit, a Hollywood Hills resident, was arrested on federal charges alleging that he sold counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs containing fentanyl to Miller, two days before his death. Pettit, 28, was arrested on Wednesday morning by special agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Fusion Task Force, prosecutors have announced.
Pettit was arrested pursuant to a criminal complaint filed last Friday that charges him with one count of distribution of a controlled substance, a press release from the United States Attorney Central District of California stated on Wednesday.
According the affidavit on this case, on the night of Sept. 4, Pettit “agreed to supply” Miller with 30 milligram oxycodone pills, as well as cocaine and the sedative Xanax. But, when Pettit made the delivery the morning of Sept. 5, he allegedly sold Miller “counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl.” The affidavit also states that hours after news of Miller’s death emerged, Pettit sent a message to a friend saying, “Most likely I will die in jail.”
The affidavit also states that investigators believe that Miller died after snorting the counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl and that those pills had been provided by Pettit. While another individual allegedly supplied Miller with other drugs prior to his death, according to the affidavit those narcotics drugs did not contain fentanyl.
“Fentanyl disguised as a genuine pharmaceutical is a killer – which is being proven every day in America,” United States Attorney Nick Hanna said. “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.”
On Sept. 7, the Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed in a statement that authorities were called to the artist’s home in Studio City, Calif. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:51 a.m.
Scott Kowalchyk/CBS
“While the death of any victim of the opioid epidemic is tragic, today’s arrest is another success for the DEA’s HIDTA Fusion Task Force,” DEA Los Angeles Deputy Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux said Wednesday. “Let our message be clear, if you peddle illegal drugs and kill someone, the DEA will be the voice of the victim. We will not rest until you face the justice system.”
If convicted of the drug trafficking charge alleged in the complaint, Pettit would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner—Coroner announced in November that the artist, née Malcolm McCormick, died from mixed drug toxicity.
On Sept. 8, an autopsy was performed and a cause of death was deferred pending further investigation. It was later determined that Miller had died from mixed drug toxicity (fentanyl, cocaine and ethanol). The manner of death was certified as an accident.
(This story was originally published on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019, at 11:51 a.m. PST.)
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