A drug dealer who reportedly sold to Olympia High School students pleaded guilty Tuesday to manslaughter and drug charges related to the December 2024 death of a teen.
Son Thien Nguyen, 35, was charged in January 2025 for delivering methylenedioxymethampetamine, also known as ecstasy, laced with fentanyl to a 16-year-old former Olympia High School student on Dec. 19, 2024.
The teen was taken to the hospital for a suspected overdose later that same day, and died shortly after.
“I delivered some of that methylenedioxymethamphetamine, a.k.a. ‘ecstacy,’ with criminal negligence to a minor,” Nguyen wrote in his guilty plea to one count each of second-degree manslaughter and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance.
Nguyen added that the minor ingested that substance on Dec. 19 “and died from an overdose and this occurred in Thurston County, Washington.”
Nguyen entered his guilty plea on Feb. 10 — 13 days before his trial was scheduled to begin.
A handful of unlawful firearm possession and drug possession charges were dropped as part of the plea deal Nguyen accepted.
The standard sentencing range, which is calculated based on the crime and defendant’s criminal history, is 24 to 36 months for the manslaughter charge and 12 to 20 months for the delivery of a controlled substance charge.
The prosecution indicates in the plea agreement that it will recommend a total sentence of 36 months to the judge at sentencing, which is scheduled for 11 a.m. on March 11.
