A man suspected of selling the drugs that killed a 16-year-old New Westminster student has been charged with one count of trafficking.
Angel Loyer-Lawrence suffered a fatal overdose after she and a group of friends bought and took MDMA, a well-known party drug. A second girl, also 16, survived a bad reaction to the drugs and was rushed to the hospital.
Both girls were students at the New Westminster-based POWER alternate school, a program that serves vulnerable students aged 16 to 18 from across the Lower Mainland.
Initially, investigators believed the pills the girls bought were a mixture of unknown substances, but a toxicology report revealed they were, in fact, MDMA.
After an investigation by the New Westminster Police Department’s street crime unit, police arrested 19-year-old Muhammad Taufiq Chambas for selling the drugs.
He has now been charged with one count of trafficking in a controlled substance.
The charges were approved on Aug. 23, but their announcement was delayed because of concerns over a possible publication ban, according to police.
Chambas' next court date is Sept. 6 in New Westminster.
