Three indicted on federal drug charges in rapper Mac Miller's death

LOS ANGELES, Oct 2 (Reuters) — Three men who prosecutors say supplied Mac Miller with the counterfeit oxycodone laced with fentanyl blamed in the rapper's 2018 death were indicted on federal drug distribution charges on Wednesday.

Cameron James Pettit, 28, Stephen Andrew Walter, 46, and Ryan Michael Reavis, 36, were each charged with conspiring to distribute controlled substances resulting in death, and distribution of fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles.

The three defendants had previously been charged separately in connection with the case. The indictment was handed down by a U.S. District Court grand jury.

Miller, born Malcolm James McCormick, was found unresponsive at his home in the Studio City neighbourhood of Los Angeles on Sept. 7, 2018 and later pronounced dead. An autopsy determined that the 26-year-old had suffered an accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol.

Fentanyl is a cheap, relatively easy-to-synthesise opioid painkiller 50 times more potent than heroin that has played a major role in the devastating U.S. opioid crisis.