A hotel worker accused of supplying pop star Liam Payne with drugs before his death has reportedly turned himself in to Argentine officials.
Nearly three months after the former One Direction star plunged to his death in Buenos Aires, 21-year-old hotel employee Ezequiel Pereyra reportedly gave himself up to police Monday evening. Pereyra negotiated his surrender through his lawyer, prosecutors confirmed to TMZ. Prosecutors investigating Payne’s October death allege Pereyra was one of two people who supplied the singer with cocaine multiple times during his stay at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel.
Payne died Oct. 16 after falling from a hotel balcony. He was 31. A preliminary autopsy determined Payne died from multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding caused by the fall.
In November officials announced Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system when he fell to his death.
News of Pereyra’s reported surrender comes a week after the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office of Argentina announced in a Spanish-language statement that Judge Laura Bruniard was prosecuting five people for their alleged involvement in Payne’s death. Officials said a hotel employee (identified at the time as “E.D.P.”) and a representative of Payne (identified as “R.L.N.”) were among the five suspects.
In late December, the prosecutor’s office charged hotel employee “E.D.P.” and a restaurant waiter (identified as “B.N.P.”) with supplying Payne with narcotics. Prosecutors accused Pereyra of delivering cocaine to Payne on Oct. 15 at at 3:25 a.m. and on Oct. 16, the day of the singer’s death, between 3:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Officials allege Payne consumed the cocaine during his stay at the hotel. The “X Factor” alum died two weeks after arriving in Argentina, where he attended an Oct. 2 concert by Niall Horan, his former One Direction bandmate.
Pereyra and the waiter who also allegedly supplied Payne with cocaine were ordered into pretrial detention. Payne’s representative and two hotel managers were charged with manslaughter without pretrial detention, prosecutors said in December.
Pereyra reportedly turned himself in shortly after detectives arrested the waiter, Argentine newspaper La Nacion reported Tuesday. Police also reportedly raided Pereyra’s home prior to his surrender but could not locate him.
Payne was laid to rest in November during a private funeral ceremony northwest of London. In addition to the singer’s loved ones, his former One Direction collaborators Horan, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson attended the emotional service. A day after Payne’s death One Direction released a social media statement remembering the “Teardrops” artist.
“The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever,” the band said.
