Cameron Pettit is the Hollywood Hills man who sold rapper Mac Miller the counterfeit oxycodone pills, laced with fentanyl, that killed him in September 2018. Pettit was federally indicted in 2019 alongside two other men, reached a plea agreement whose terms were sealed by the court, and was released from federal prison on October 11, 2024, at age 33.1Yahoo Entertainment. Mac Miller Alleged Drug Dealer Released From California Prison
His Role in Mac Miller’s Death
Miller, whose legal name was Malcolm James McCormick, was found unresponsive at his Studio City home on September 7, 2018. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner ruled the death accidental and attributed it to mixed drug toxicity involving fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol.2DEA. Federal Grand Jury Charges Three Men With Distributing Fentanyl-Laced Pills
According to the federal indictment, Miller contacted Pettit on the night of September 4, 2018, asking to buy Percocet, cocaine, and Xanax. In the early morning hours of September 5, Pettit delivered ten counterfeit 30-milligram oxycodone pills, sold on the street as “blues,” and represented them to Miller as genuine oxycodone. The pills contained fentanyl.3U.S. Department of Justice. Federal Grand Jury Charges 3 Men in Scheme to Distribute Fentanyl-Laced Pills
Pettit sat at the end of a three-person supply chain. Prosecutors said Stephen Andrew Walter provided the counterfeit pills, Ryan Michael Reavis picked them up from Walter and delivered them to Pettit, and Pettit sold them directly to Miller.3U.S. Department of Justice. Federal Grand Jury Charges 3 Men in Scheme to Distribute Fentanyl-Laced Pills
After news of Miller’s death broke, according to the 42-page criminal complaint, Pettit messaged a friend: “I am not great … Most likely I will die in jail.”4DEA. Hollywood Hills Man Arrested on Federal Charges Selling Fentanyl-Laced Pills In a separate Instagram exchange, he wrote that he should “probably not post anything … just to be smart.”5NBC News. Prosecutors Charge Man in Connection With Death of Rapper Mac Miller
The Federal Charges
DEA agents and LAPD officers arrested Pettit on September 4, 2019, almost exactly a year after Miller’s death. He first appeared in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles that afternoon on a criminal complaint charging one count of distribution of a controlled substance.6U.S. Department of Justice. Hollywood Hills Man Arrested on Federal Charges of Selling Fentanyl-Laced Pills to Rapper Mac Miller
On October 2, 2019, a federal grand jury in the Central District of California returned a three-count indictment against Pettit, Walter, and Reavis. Each man was charged with conspiring to distribute controlled substances resulting in death and distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. Both counts carried a mandatory minimum of 20 years in federal prison and a maximum of life without parole.2DEA. Federal Grand Jury Charges Three Men With Distributing Fentanyl-Laced Pills Pettit pleaded not guilty at his October 2019 arraignment.7NPR. Mac Miller Drug Dealer Stephen Walter Sentenced to Prison for Fentanyl Distribution
Prosecutors also alleged that Pettit kept dealing after Miller’s death. According to the indictment, Walter agreed to sell Pettit another batch of counterfeit pills less than a month after the overdose, and the two conducted additional transactions into 2019, with the most recent occurring on August 30, 2019, days before Pettit’s arrest.3U.S. Department of Justice. Federal Grand Jury Charges 3 Men in Scheme to Distribute Fentanyl-Laced Pills
How His Case Was Resolved
Pettit’s case took a quieter path than his co-defendants’. By October 2021, reporting indicated he had reached a plea agreement, but the court sealed the details.8BBC News. Mac Miller Case Developments The specific count he ultimately pleaded to and the length of his sentence have not been publicly disclosed. Whether he pleaded to a lesser charge, cooperated with prosecutors, or reached some other arrangement is not on the public record.9Press Democrat. Drug Dealer in Mac Miller Case Released From California Prison
Release From Prison
Pettit was released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Mendota, California, on October 11, 2024. He was 33.1Yahoo Entertainment. Mac Miller Alleged Drug Dealer Released From California Prison The interval between his September 2019 arrest and his release was roughly five years, well below the 20-year mandatory minimum attached to the original charges.9Press Democrat. Drug Dealer in Mac Miller Case Released From California Prison
How the Co-Defendants Were Sentenced
Both co-defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced in 2022, and both received far longer terms than Pettit apparently served.
Ryan Reavis pleaded guilty in 2021 to one count of distribution of fentanyl. On April 18, 2022, he was sentenced to 131 months, just under 11 years, in federal prison.10ABC7 Chicago. Mac Miller Drug Dealer Ryan Reavis Sentenced
Stephen Walter pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl in October 2021. Judge Otis D. Wright II rejected an initial plea agreement that would have produced a 17-year sentence, finding it fell below federal guidelines and citing evidence that Walter continued selling counterfeit pills after Miller’s death. Walter was sentenced on May 16, 2022, to 210 months, or 17 and a half years, in federal prison.7NPR. Mac Miller Drug Dealer Stephen Walter Sentenced to Prison for Fentanyl Distribution