North Texas man pleads guilty to distributing over 1,000 fentanyl pills in Flower Mound
An 18-year-old North Texas man pleaded guilty Tuesday to distributing more than 1,000 fentanyl pills in Flower Mound, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Stephen Paul Brinson, also known as “Steve-O,” was charged in March with distributing fentanyl. When he arrived at the Carrollton jail, Brinson said he was “minding his own (expletive) business in my white-(expletive) house in Flower Mound,” and told law enforcement officers that he would be OK because he is white and lives in Flower Mound, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Brinson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez.
Brinson admitted he dealt fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills out of a home in Flower Mound, according to plea papers.
He used an Instagram account to sell fentanyl pills, which were imprinted “M/30” to resemble legitimate 30 milligram oxycodone pills.
According to court documents, Brinson was the source of a fentanyl supply to Donovan Jude Andrews, a Carrollton dealer who allegedly made money using the arrests of Luis Navarrete and Magaly Cano — a pair allegedly tied to at least 10 juvenile overdoses in the Carrollton Farmers Branch School District — to advertise his pill business.
Andrews is allegedly tied to at least one fentanyl overdose of a child — a 14-year-old girl who paid her dealer through CashApp.
Jason Villanueva, the alleged supplier of Navarrete and Cano, is also accused of being tied to the 10 teen overdoses.
During a search of Brinson’s house, officers recovered about 1,800 fentanyl-laced pills, cocaine, marijuana and two guns.
He also admitted that at the time of the search, he was armed and was on his way to deliver an M/30 pill to a customer in Flower Mound, according to plea papers.
Brinson is the second defendant charged in the Carrollton-Flower Mound juvenile overdoses to enter a guilty plea.
Cano pleaded guilty. Six other defendants — including Andrews, Villanueva and Navarrete — have been charged but have not been convicted.
Brinson now faces up to 40 years in federal prison.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Division and the Carrollton Police Department conducted the investigation with the assistance of school resource officers from the Carrollton-Farmer’s Branch Independent School District and the Lewisville Independent School District.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Phelesa Guy and Rick Calvert are prosecuting the case.
Illicitly produced, fentanyl-laced pills often look similar to legitimate prescription pills such as Oxycontin or Percocet, but can pose significantly more danger. On the street, these pills are often referred to as “M30s” (a reference to the markings on some of the pills), “blues,” “perks,” “yerks,” “china girls” or “TNT.” For more information, visit dea.gov/onepill.
