Mac Miller drug supplier admits fake oxy distribution

A man has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of distributing fentanyl-laden pills that were involved in the death of US rapper Mac Miller at the age of 26 in 2018.

Stephen Andrew Walter (48) entered a plea agreement earlier this week, according to an E! News report, and is due to plead guilty at a hearing on November 8.

He has accepted a 17-year prison sentence, and will not now face additional charges of fentanyl distribution resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance resulting in death. The judge in the case may either accept or reject the plea deal.

Cameron James Pettit – who was accuse of directly supplying the drug to Miller – has also reached a plea agreement that has not yet been revealed. Charges against a final defendant, Ryan Michael Reavis, are due to be heard in court next March.

The counterfeit oxycodone pills were considered to be the major contributor to Miller's death, although the singer was also found to have taken cocaine and alcohol in his final hours.

Fake opioid pills laced with fentanyl are also thought to be behind the deaths of other celebrities including Prince and Lil Peep, as well as the near-death overdose of Demi Lovato. Meanwhile, fentanyl was also implicated in the deaths of Tom Petty and Michael Jackson.

Last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a safety alert over what it describes as an "alarming increase" in both the lethality and availability of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl as well as methamphetamine.

The agency said seizures are currently occurring at record rates with more than 9.5m counterfeit pills intercepted so far this year, which is more than the last two years combined.