Fentanyl dealer connected to Carrollton 13-year-old's death pleads guilty
CARROLLTON, Texas - A 23-year-old drug dealer accused of selling fentanyl to a Carrollton middle schooler, who later overdosed and died, has pleaded guilty to a federal crime.
Rafael Soliz Jr. pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl on Thursday after authorities said he admitted to selling 1,500 fentanyl-laced pills.
Three of them were sold to a middle school student in Carrollton, who died of an overdose.
Rafael Soliz (Courtesy: City of Carrollton)
This is the first Carrollton fentanyl case where a suspect admitted to directly selling a pill to a teen who overdosed and died.
The DEA said they are making an impact, but their work is not done.
"I’m angry. We should all be angry and a little shocked at how willing people are able to go to just get money in their pockets," Special Agent in Charge Dallas DEA Eduardo Chavez said.
A months-long investigation into a deadly drug ring that’s caused overdose deaths of students has netted multiple arrests.
According to court documents that showed the 2022 conversation between Soliz and the child, Soliz responded to Instagram messages from the 13-year-old who asked him if she could buy "percs."
Soliz even told the student how to cut a straw in order to snort the three pills she bought that were laced with fentanyl.
When Soliz learned the Dewitt Perry Middle School, which is in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, student's age a few days later, he replied, "I would have never sold you that, if I knew that bro," but then told her that he would continue selling to her, but she should "keep it on the down low."
Court documents also said Soliz told the girl to deny he was her dealer if she ever was caught and only communicate using Instagram "vanish mode."
On December 9, 2022, Soliz told the 13-year-old to delete their chat, according to information from police. She was found dead in her bedroom two days later.
An autopsy said she died from a combination of fentanyl and cough medicine.
Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD takes steps to address student fentanyl abuse following overdose deaths
The Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District wants to educate families about the dangers of fentanyl after several recent student overdose deaths.
In plea papers, Soliz said he personally sold 1,500 fentanyl pills to adults and minors, including the 13-year-old overdose victim.
Chavez said his investigators are learning that some of the people buying these pills know they’re laced with fentanyl.
"We are seeing people ask for fentanyl pills. They may say a perc or hydrocodone or something like that, but a lot of our investigations historically reveal that more and more people know what they are taking. That is more scary," he said.
Soliz is the fifth person who has pleaded guilty in connection to the investigation into overdoses in Carrollton and Flower Mound.
Xavier Villanueva, Magaly Cano, Donovan Jude Andrews and Stephen Paul Brinson pleaded guilty earlier this year. Three others have been charged, but have not been convicted.
"Anyone selling fentanyl to children will find themselves becoming a top priority for the Drug Enforcement Administration," said Chávez.
Soliz faces up to 40 years in federal prison. Under the plea agreement, he may be called upon to testify in court in other cases.
There’s a new state law that creates a criminal offense of murder for supplying fentanyl that results in death.
It doesn’t go into effect until September, and may not apply to this case, but Chavez hopes the law could act as a deterrent for other dealers.
Until then, the work continues to seek out and arrest them.
"The tens of thousands of pills that we have seized, just in this one case alone in collaboration with the Carrollton Police Department, those are lives saved," Chavez added.