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PLANO, Texas – The Eastern District of Texas sentenced a 40-year-old Garland, Texas man.
Michael David Miranda pleaded guilty on July 7, 2020, to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, resulting in death and serious bodily injury. Miranda was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Sean D. Jordan.
Beginning in approximately January 2016 and continuing through July 2020, Miranda, also known as “Buddha,” engaged in a conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with the intent to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine and heroin. In doing so, he caused serious bodily injury to JS and death to BB, individuals who had overdosed on the heroin sold to them by the defendant. Specifically, on January 16, 2019, officers with the Denton Police Department were dispatched to Medical City Hospital in Denton, Texas, regarding a foreign substance injected into JS, a patient treated in the Intensive Care Unit. Denton PD narcotics detectives were able to establish through hospital surveillance videos that Miranda had entered. They then exited JS’s room just before hospital staff finding JS unresponsive and not breathing. Hospital staff reported finding a syringe in JS’s IV line.
Medical personnel resuscitated JS with a Narcan dose, a medicine that counteracts a heroin overdose’s effects. Detectives were later able to establish that Miranda had injected the heroin into JS’s IV line at JS’s request. JS admitted to Detectives to purchasing heroin from Miranda regularly since approximately 2016.
On January 23, 2019, Denton PD narcotics detectives utilized a confidential informant to conduct a Miranda buy-bust operation. The CI contacted Miranda and asked to purchase heroin. Miranda agreed to meet the CI at the agreed-upon location. Once Miranda arrived, officers were able to take him into custody. They found heroin and methamphetamine in his possession.
On January 25, 2019, Detectives interviewed Miranda, and he admitted to selling heroin and methamphetamine and that he had brought heroin to JS while she was in the hospital on January 16. Miranda made a bond on his charges, and they released him from the Denton County Jail.
On October 26, 2019, officers with the Denton Police Department went to a residence in Denton, Texas, regarding a deceased person. Upon arrival, officers and medics found BB dead in his bedroom. BB was surrounded by drug paraphernalia, indicating BB had possibly overdosed on drugs. On January 30, 2020, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy. It determined BB’s cause of death was an overdose of an acute mixture of drugs, including heroin, methadone, and methamphetamine. Denton PD narcotics detectives establish that Miranda had sold BB the heroin, which had caused BB to overdose.
On December 10, 2019, Denton PD narcotics detectives utilized a confidential informant to conduct a Miranda buy-bust operation. The CI contacted Miranda and asked to purchase heroin. Miranda agreed to meet the CI at the agreed-upon location. Once Miranda arrived, officers were able to take him into custody. They discovered more heroin in his possession.
Miranda was indicted by a federal grand jury on November 13, 2019, and charged with federal drug trafficking violations.