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Press Release

Heroin and Methamphetamine Dealer Who Sold Drugs that Caused Overdose Death Sentenced to 25 Years

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Texas

PLANO, Texas – A 40-year-old Garland, Texas man has been sentenced for drug trafficking crimes in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Cox today.

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.

According to information presented in court, 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, and 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 being injected into JS, a patient who was being treated in the Intensive Care Unit.  Denton PD narcotics detectives were able to establish through hospital surveillance videos that Miranda had entered and then exited JS’s room just prior to hospital staff finding JS unresponsive and not breathing. Hospital staff reported finding a syringe in JS’s IV line. Medical personnel were forced to resuscitate JS with a dose of Narcan, a medicine which counteracts the affects of a heroin overdose. 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 on a regular basis since approximately 2016.

On January 23, 2019, Denton PD narcotics detectives utilized a confidential informant to conduct a buy-bust operation on Miranda. 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 16th. Miranda was able to make bond on his charges and was released from the Denton County Jail. 

On October 26, 2019, officers with the Denton Police Department were dispatched to a residence in Denton, Texas, regarding a deceased person. Upon arrival, officers and medics found BB deceased in his bedroom. BB was surrounded by drug paraphernalia, indicating BB had possibly over-dosed on drugs. On January 30, 2020 the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office performed an autopsy and determined BB's cause of death was an overdose of an acute mixture of drugs, including heroin, methadone and methamphetamine. Denton PD narcotics detectives were able to establish that Miranda had sold BB the heroin which had caused BB to overdose and die.

On December 10, 2019, Denton PD narcotics detectives utilized a confidential informant to conduct a buy-bust operation on Miranda. 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.

This case was investigated by the Denton Police Department and the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. Johnson.

Updated October 21, 2020