May 23, 2023 - LOS ANGELES – A South Bay man has been found guilty by a jury of distributing pills laced with the powerful opioid fentanyl to a 15-year-old boy who ingested them and died in May 2020, the Justice Department has announced.

Alexander Declan Bell Wilson, 22, of Rolling Hills, was found guilty late Friday of one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

According to evidence presented at a five-day trial, on the evening on May 14, 2020, Wilson agreed to distribute five “percs” –slang for pills typically laced with fentanyl – to the victim, Nathan Young-Nichols, 15, of Rolling Hills Estates. Evidence seized from Young-Nichols’ cellular phone shows he believed the pills were authentic pharmaceutical pills that contained the opioid oxycodone.  

At around 11:30 p.m. that night, the victim’s 13-year-old brother met Wilson outside the family’s house to pick up the five pills. Wilson then handed a plastic bag containing the pills to the victim’s brother through the window of Wilson’s vehicle. The victim’s brother took the bag from Wilson, went back inside the house, and gave the pills to the victim. Shortly afterward, Young-Nichols posted a photograph of the pills on his Snapchat social media account and then ingested the pills.

From approximately 1:50 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. on May 15, 2020, Wilson and the victim argued on Snapchat about the proper way to consume the pills Wilson had sold to the victim. During those chats, Wilson chastised Young-Nichols for chewing the pills, and then shared screenshots of their conversation with his Snapchat followers.

On the morning of May 15, 2020, the victim’s grandmother found him dead in his bedroom. Expert testimony at trial confirmed the victim’s death was caused solely due to fentanyl poisoning.

United States District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha scheduled an October 20 sentencing hearing, at which time Wilson will face a mandatory sentence of 20 years and a potential sentence of life imprisonment. Wilson has been in federal custody since May 2021.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Overdose Justice Task Force and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigated this matter.

The Overdose Justice Task Force is a project designed to investigate fatal fentanyl poisonings and identify the individuals who provided the fentanyl that directly caused the deaths. Under the Overdose Justice program for the DEA’s Los Angeles Field Division, DEA agents have established collaborative relationships with local law enforcement agencies across the seven counties that make up the Central District of California. Local authorities are almost always the first to respond to an overdose death, and DEA agents have provided training to dozens of local agencies to help them analyze evidence to determine if there are circumstances that might lead to a federal criminal prosecution.

Assistant United States Attorneys Ian V. Yanniello and Daniel H. Weiner of the General Crimes Section are prosecuting this case.
Source: DOJ Release