A Carrollton man has pleaded guilty to selling the lethal fentanyl pill that killed a 13-year old girl.
Thursday morning, 22-year-old Rafael Soliz Jr. became the latest suspect in a North Texas fentanyl crime ring to plead guilty to charges that led to the deaths of at least three people and the poisoning of another seven late last year and early this year. All the victims were teenagers.
Specifically, Soliz admits he sold a counterfiet pill to a 13-year-old girl who was a student at the DeWitt Perry Middle School in Carrollton. Two days later she was dead.
Federal authorities were able to get several text messages between Soliz and the victim. They were also able to show that Soliz sold pills and operated out of his Carrollton home, often connecting with students through Instagram.
According to previous federal indictments, Soliz allegedly conspired with Jason Xavier Villanueva, Roberta Alexander Gaitan, Donovan Jude Andrews, Stephan Paul Brinson, Magaly Mejia Cano, and Luis Eduardo Navarrete to traffic counterfeit opioid pills laced with fentanyl to young teens, often via juvenile dealers.
If a federal judge goes along with the plea deal Soliz will be sentenced to somewhere between 5 and 40-years in federal prison. That's in line with others who have pleaded guilty.
Soliz is the fourth out of eight defendants who were operating in the Carrollton Farmers-Branch school district, selling the fentanyl-laced pills between August of 2022 and February 2023.
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