Mac Miller's Alleged Dealer Charged In Fatal Overdose

LOS ANGELES, CA — The man who allegedly supplied the late hip-hop artist Mac Miller with a lethal mix of drugs, including counterfeit oxycodone pills, was arrested by federal authorities Wednesday. Twenty-eight-year-old Cameron James Pettit, of Hollywood Hills, faces one count of distribution of a controlled substance in connection with Miller's fatal overdose last year.

According to a newly unsealed federal criminal complaint, Pettit supplied Miller with counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin. Miller had asked to buy "percs," an abbreviation for percocet, a prescribed painkiller containing oxycodone, according to prosecutors.

Pettit was expected make his initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles.

Miller's body was found in his Studio City home last Sept. 7. A medical examiner concluded he died rom an overdose of alcohol, cocaine and fentanyl. According to prosecutors, Pettit agreed to supply Miller -- whose real name was Malcolm James McCormick -- with 30 milligram oxycodone pills, as well as cocaine and the sedative Xanax. But that's not what he ended up doing. Prosecutors contend he sold Miller the counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl instead.

Two days later, Miller was found dead.

The affidavit alleges that hours after news outlets reported the 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 containing fentanyl and that those pills had been provided by Pettit, according to the affidavit. While another suspected dealer supplied Miller with other drugs prior to his death, those narcotics drugs did not contain fentanyl, the affidavit states.

"Fentanyl disguised as a genuine pharmaceutical is a killer -- which is being proven every single day in the United States," said U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna. "We are aggressively targeting drug dealers responsible for trafficking illicit fentanyl, which has become the most deadly facet of the opioid epidemic. We are committed to slowing the number of overdose deaths and prosecuting those responsible for spreading this most dangerous opioid."

If convicted of the drug trafficking charge alleged in the complaint, Pettit would face up to 20 years in federal prison, according to prosecutors.

In the hours before he died, Miller posted a video of a record player playing one of his songs.
Miller's personal problems have made headlines recently. Months before his death, he was arrested on suspicion of DUI hit and run after his crashed car was found abandoned in the Hollywood Hills. Police said McCormick drove his 2016 G-Wagon over a curb, knocked down a power pole, and ditched his car to flee on foot with his two passengers in tow. A witness called police, who showed up at the rapper's home. At the time, police told reporters he was a notably polite and cooperative suspect.

That is when Grande made a public plea, asking Miller to take care of himself. She made it clear she was worried about drug use.

"I am not a babysitter or a mother and no woman should feel that they need to be," she tweeted. "I have cared for him and tried to support his sobriety and prayed for his balance for years..."

But the rapper appeared to be optimistic about his future recently. He was getting ready to tour for his new album "Swimming."

"I just wanna go on tour," he tweeted in the hours before his death. "The show is going to be special every night. I wish it started tomorrow."

City News Service contributed to this report.