Confessed Dallas heroin dealer admits providing drugs that caused death of 2 north Texas young women

DALLAS — An admitted local heroin dealer pleaded guilty Tuesday, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma C. Ramirez, to possessing heroin with intent to distribute, which ultimately caused the death of two north Texas women.

This guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. This investigation was led by the Irving and Grapevine police departments, with assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

According to the factual resume filed in the case, Misael Perla, aka "Irving" and "Weasal", 25, of Dallas, a confessed heroin dealer, admitted that on July 16, 2013 he knowingly distributed heroin to Alexandra Julia Moreno, 20, of Irving, Texas, a woman he had recently met at a club. Perla provided the heroin to Moreno while she was staying with him at his mother's home and he watched as she used the heroin in his presence. Later that evening and into the next morning, Perla attempted to wake Moreno, and he became concerned that she may have overdosed. He put her into the bed of a truck, drove to Baylor Medical Center at Irving and left her body with medical personnel at the emergency room. Moreno was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival at the hospital and a subsequent autopsy report concluded that she "died as the result of the toxic effects of heroin."

Additionally, Perla also admits in the factual resume that he knew Cassidy Seward, 18, of Grapevine, Texas; she used heroin and she would take some heroin from a supply at his residence. After staying with Perla one evening, Seward overdosed on drugs taken from his home. After her family found her unresponsive, paramedics arrived and took her to the hospital, where she was soon pronounced dead. A subsequent autopsy report concluded that she died from the "mixed drug toxicity" of heroin and methamphetamine.

On each of the two counts of conviction, Perla faces a statutory penalty of at least 20 years and up to life in prison and a $5 million fine. A sentencing date was not set.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Schall, Northern District in Texas, is prosecuting this case.