A hotel worker who is accused of selling Liam Payne drugs before his death has turned himself in.
An arrest warrant was issued for 21-year-old Ezequiel David Pereyra last week, while a waiter was also arrested. However cops looking for him couldn't find him at his home on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
His lawyer has now reportedly told officials that Ezequiel would hand himself in, according to local reports. A source told Argentina's La Nacion: "After Friday's operation a place where police believed he was working and other residential addresses were put under surveillance and because of the pressure he did the right thing with help from his lawyer."
Ezequiel was suspended from his job at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel where Liam tragically died on October 16 last year. It's reported that the former hotel worker was read his rights and then taken into custody, on the orders of Judge Laura Bruniard.
Mrs Bruniard said he must be arrested after he failed to honour a 24-hour deadline to hand himself in for pre-trial detention after he was charged. He was charged on December 27 with supplying Liam with drugs.
Public prosecutors confirmed late last month the judge had accused him of “selling Liam cocaine on October 15 at 3.25am and between 3.30pm and 4pm on October 16 so that he could consume it during his hotel stay.”
They also claimed witness statements and CCTV analysis supported the allegation Pereyra had received US dollars 100 from Liam to buy narcotics for him and the singer had sent a car to his home on another occasion to pick up more drugs.
In November TMZ published footage showing Liam stepping out of a lift at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel and chatting with a man it identified as Pereyra shortly before the singer died, claiming the 31-year-old Brit had asked him for “seven grams of the same drug he had handed him earlier.”
Like Liam’s other alleged dealer Braian Nahuel Paiz, he is facing a prison sentence of between four to 15 years if convicted as charged. Paiz was arrested at his home in Berazategui to the south-east of Quilmes near Buenos Aires on Friday so he could start his pre-trial detention.
His lawyer Fernando Madeo had previously claimed it was “impossible” the charges against his client would stick following Liam’s hotel death. He also insisted the 24-year-old was the victim of a “witch hunt” sparked by the authorities’ desire for culprits.
Waiter Paiz, who met Liam at a restaurant in the upmarket Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Puerto Madero where he had gone to eat with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy and friends, has confessed to consuming drugs with the singer at the hotel where he died but refuted claims he sold him any narcotics.
The other three men indicted, Liam’s close friend Roger Nores, chief hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi and the hotel’s head of security Gilda Martin, have all been charged with manslaughter but allowed to remain free while their prosecution continues.
They are facing between one and five years in prison if convicted as charged although they have been told they could be eligible for suspended jail sentences.
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