Rolling Hills Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Distributing Fentanyl-Laced Pills that Caused High School Freshman’s Death

LOS ANGELES – A South Bay man, who in May 2020 distributed fentanyl-laced pills to a 15-year-old boy and mocked the victim online as he was dying of an overdose, was sentenced today to 240 months in federal prison.

Alexander Declan Bell Wilson, 23, of Rolling Hills, was sentenced by United States District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha, who also ordered Wilson to pay $2,364 in restitution. Judge Aenlle-Rocha also ordered Wilson, upon his release from prison, to be placed on supervised release for 12 years.

At the conclusion of a five-day trial, a jury on May 19 found Wilson guilty of one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. Wilson has been in federal custody since May 2021.

On the evening on May 14, 2020, Wilson agreed to distribute five Percocet pills to the victim. Evidence seized from the victim’s cellphone 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, the victim 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 the victim 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.

“After [the victim’s] death, [Wilson] showed no remorse for his crimes,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “To the contrary, he lied to police about his conduct, deleted incriminating evidence from his phone, and minimized his role in the offense. Indeed, [Wilson] blamed [the victim] for his own death, boasting that [the victim] ‘did that to himself.’”

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 prosecuted this case.