Drug Dealer Ordered to Pay Millions to Family After Selling Lethal Fentanyl-Laced Painkiller to College Student

Family of overdose victim awarded $5.8 million in civil suit.

A California judge has, for the first time, held a drug dealer civilly liable for a death, ordering him to pay $5.8 million to the family of a student who died from fentanyl-laced pills.

Brandon McDowell, 20, sold the victim counterfeit pills in 2019 after she contacted him on Snapchat seeking the prescription painkiller, Percocet, while home for the holidays.

Alexandra Capelouto, also 20, would die within hours of obtaining the fentanyl-laced pills from McDowell.

According to the CDC, the rate of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl have increased to 25 times what they were in 2010. Fentanyl overdoses continue to rise and are estimated to contribute to nearly 70% of overdose deaths.

After the loss of their daughter, Capelouto's parents were not satisfied with McDowell's 2022 conviction for fentanyl possession. McDowell was sentenced to nine years in prison for pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

"For taking somebody's life, that was not a fair sentence," Matt Capelouto said according to an AP News report. "I was going to pursue every means possible to make sure justice was served."

The Capeloutos filed a civil suit for wrongful death in California's Superior Court of Riverside County, where McDowell was determined to have sold harmful narcotics with "willful and malicious" intent leading to the victim's death. The judge awarded Matt Capelouto and his wife $5 million, a judgment that Baruch Cohen, their lawyer, claims as the first civil liability suit to hold a drug dealer accountable for an overdose death.

"Here's the hope that this judgment will be the shot that's heard around the world, so to speak," Cohen said. "Because if it inhibits another drug deal from going down, where the drug dealer ... realizes that besides the jail sentence, he is a liable for millions of dollars of damages, maybe he'll think twice."

McDowell, now 25, has filed for bankruptcy. Undeterred, the Capeloutos filed another case in federal bankruptcy court to make sure the bankruptcy would not allow McDowell to escape his debt to the victim's family. As part of the ruling in favor of the Capeloutos, Judge Mark Houle ordered a year and a half interest tacked on to the initial $5 million

"This judgment will haunt him the rest of his life, and when he does make money, we'll garnish it. When he does buy property, we'll put a lien on it," Cohen said.