One of the three drug dealers charged in the fentanyl overdose that claimed Mac Miller’s life was reportedly sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison on Monday (April 18). According to Rolling Stone, 39-year-old Ryan Michael Reavis appeared in a Los Angeles federal court and admitted he was the middle man who provided counterfeit oxycodone pills to a fellow dealer that, in turn, killed Miller in September 2018, though Reavis insisted he had no idea they were laced with fentanyl.
Although Reavis was hoping for just five years and prosecutors were seeking 12.5 years, U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II settled on 10 years and 11 months after an emotional statement from Miller’s mother, Karen Meyers.
“My life went dark the moment Malcolm left his world,” Meyers’ statement read in part. “Malcolm was my person, more than a son. We had a bond and kinship that was deep and special and irreplaceable. We spoke nearly every day about everything – his life, plans, music, dreams […] He would never knowingly take a pill with fentanyl, ever. He wanted to live and was excited about the future. The hole in my heart will always be there.”
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Before Reavis was sentenced, he said he was “unaware” the pills provided led to Miller’s death until he was arrested in Arizona a year later.
“This is not just a regular drug case,” he told the court. “Somebody died, and a family is never going to get their son back. My family would be wrecked if it was me. They’d never be all right, never truly get over it. I think about that all the time. And I know that whatever happens today, I’m the lucky one because my family is here and I’m here and I’ll be with them again. I feel terrible. This is not who I am. My perspective has changed. My heart has changed.”
Prosecutors said Reavis had three guns in his possession when he was arrested in Lake Havasu, including an untraceable “ghost gun” as well as boxes of ammunition, “digital scales covered in heroin and methamphetamine residue,” blank prescription pads and baggies. A 2019 text also proved he was still selling drugs after Miller’s death, fully aware fentanyl was a problem.
The text read, “People have been dying from fake blues left and right, you better believe law enforcement is using informants and undercover[s] to buy them on the street do [sic] they can start putting ppl in prison for life for selling fake pills.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elia Herrera told Judge Otis, “Defendant knew that people were dying from fake blues left and right. He knew that people were being put away in prison for life for dealing them. Defendant was not worried about people dying left and right. He was worried about getting caught.”
In addition to the substantial prison time, Reavis also received three years of supervised release with drug testing. Stephen Andrew Walter, 48, took a plea deal carrying a 17-year prison sentence last October after copping to supplying the fentanyl-laced pills to Reavis. The case against co-defendant Cameron James Pettit is still pending. The feds allege Pettit agreed to supply Miller with 10 fentanyl-laced oxycodone pills as well as cocaine and the sedative Xanax that ultimately killed him.
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