Hollywood woman convicted of running drug-delivery network selling fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills

A Hollywood woman could face up to life in prison after a jury found her guilty Tuesday of selling fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills and other narcotics through a drug-delivery network out of Los Angeles County.

Mirela Todorova, a.k.a. "Mimi," provided cellphones to drivers who delivered the drugs to customers across Los Angeles County and elsewhere between June 2020 to March 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Todorova, 36-year-old citizen of the U.S., Canada and Bulgaria, was convicted of nine federal charges including three counts of distribution of fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury and others related to the distribution of methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy. 

Between just a roughly two-month span, from November 2020 to January 2021, her sales of fentanyl-laced drugs led to at least three overdoses which prosecutors described as "near fatal." Some of her customers had warned her the supposed oxycodone pills contained fentanyl, and that they could be fatal, but she continued selling them until February 2021, according to prosecutors.

"This case started with a single overdose and led to the identification of the dealer responsible for multiple overdoses," Matthew Allen, special agent in charge for the LA field office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office. "This drug distributor had knowledge of the harm she was creating and didn't care."

The Los Angeles Times reported that during the trial, three overdose survivors testified and two of them — along with other former customers of Todorova — had warned her in text messages obtained by the DEA that she was selling dirty drugs. The LA Times previously reported that a Beverly Hills man's death in November 2020 had led to the discovery of Todorova delivery service. While selling drugs like ecstasy, its business model resembled a food-delivery app with something of a menu of drugs. 

However, Todorova did not ultimately face charges related to that man's fatal overdose. 

At a sentencing hearing scheduled for Sept. 12, she faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment. She must also forfeit $498,555 in drug proceeds to the U.S. government.

In March 2021, law enforcement officials served search warrants for her home and car which led to the seizure of "drug trafficking materials" and drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy) and "a single purported oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office statement.   

As the investigation continued, in December that year, Todorova told investigators she thought the drugs were vitamins, according to prosecutors. She also said she had only met Sei twice and never instructed anyone on how to make or package drugs.

Sometimes, Todorova operated the drug-delivery scheme from abroad, hiring a 29-year-old Koreatown man, Mucktarr Kather Sei, as a driver who later ran it at her direction when she was outside the country. 

"Several times throughout the drug trafficking conspiracy, Todorova visited Mexico, where she continued to manage her drug operation while tending to her pet jaguar, 'Princess,'" reads the U.S. Attorney's Office statement.

Sei and two other defendants, Christopher Y. Moreno Núñez, 29, of Pacific Palisades, and Ashley Alicia Nicole Johnson, 34, of Los Angeles, all pleaded guilty to felony narcotics charges last year and will be sentenced in the coming months.