United States Drug Enforcement Administration

DALLAS - An Arlington drug dealer who sold the heroin that killed an 18-year-old Southlake girl was sentenced today to more than 28 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox.

Michael Dasean Robinson, 33, pleaded guilty on April 12 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and was sentenced to 340 months’ imprisonment by Senior U.S. District Judge John H. McBryde Thursday.

“The sentence sends a message to drug dealers,” said Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Division Clyde E. Shelley, Jr. “Drug dealers will be will be held accountable for their customer’s overdose deaths."

“This woman’s untimely death was tragic – and preventable,” said U.S. Attorney Nealy Cox. “Even as we mourn the many lives lost in the opioid epidemic, we are determined to hold those who peddle these deadly drugs accountable.”

Evidence showed that Mr. Robinson – who went by the street name “Tight” – sold $40 worth of heroin to Reed Bartosh on Nov. 30, 2017.  

Mr. Bartosh told police officers that he and his girlfriend, 18-year-old Brianna Flood, used the heroin together that same night and then fell asleep. The next morning, he told officers, he awoke to find her unresponsive.

An autopsy later revealed Ms. Flood had died of a heroin overdose. At today’s sentencing hearing, Judge McBryde found that the heroin sold by Mr. Robinson had caused her death – which ultimately led to Mr. Bartosh’s subsequent suicide.

According to a criminal complaint filed in January 2019, after the girl’s tragic death, undercover officers posing as Mr. Robinson’s clients bought heroin and cocaine from him and an associate:   

“Can you do 140 b and 50 g?,” an undercover officer texted Mr. Robinson, at a number provided by Mr. Bartosh, referring to heroin and cocaine.  

“Yeah,” Mr. Robinson responded. “Hit me up.”

At Mr. Robinson’s direction, his associate delivered plastic baggies containing heroin (commonly referred to as “boy,” or “b”) and cocaine (commonly referred to as “girl,” or “g”) to an undercover officer parked in the driveway of a Dallas residence in exchange for cash.

During a traffic stop a few days later, law enforcement found cocaine, heroin, and marijuana in Mr. Robinson’s vehicle. Multiple sources of information confirmed to law enforcement that Mr. Robinson was their regular drug dealer.  A forensic analysis of his phone suggested he had more than 200 customers.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Fort Worth Police Department’s Narcotics Division, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, and the Southlake Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Smith prosecuted the case.