Crime & Safety
Woodland Hills Man Pleads No Contest in Heroin Case Involving Boy's Death
The district attorney expects murder and child abuse charges associated with the case will be dropped.
A Woodland Hills man pleaded no contest Tuesday to a charge that he furnished heroin to a 13-year-old boy who died of an overdose last summer.
Brett Michael Cronin, 24, is facing a 14-year state prison term, with sentencing scheduled May 29 before Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Karen Nudell, according to Deputy District Attorney Kaveh Faturechi.
A Los Angeles Police Department statement released last August said Topanga homicide detectives determined that Cronin purchased heroin and injected himself, then injected his younger brother's 13-year-old friend, Timothy Matthews, at a sleepover in Woodland Hills.
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Paramedics and Los Angeles police were summoned to the home Aug. 8, and Cronin has been in custody since then.
He was charged Aug. 10 with one count each of murder, furnishing or administering heroin to a minor and child abuse. At the time, .
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The other two charges are expected to be dismissed at sentencing, the prosecutor said.
