Six People Charged In Connection To The Death Of Vine Co-Founder Colin Kroll’s Drug-Overdose

Six alleged members of a drug-delivery service in New York City were arrested and charged Tuesday with distributing heroin and cocaine, which lead to the death of Vine’s Co-Founder Colin Kroll.

According to Variety, the defendants allegedly operated a service dubbed “Mike’s Candyshop,” which supplied the drugs to Kroll, resulting in his death December 2018, according to authorities.

Kroll was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Dec. 16, 2018, at the young age of 34. New York City’s medical examiner’s office later determined the cause of death was an accidental drug overdose, according to reports.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman for Southern District of New York said in a statement, “As alleged, these defendants operated a covert on-demand delivery service for the distribution of highly addictive and dangerous drugs. Allegedly, even after they realized the potency of the drugs they were distributing and selling, the defendants continued to sell their poison.”

Authorities have named the six people charged in the Mike’s Candyshop case: Christian Baez, 33; Luis Meson, 31; Gregoris Martinez, 34; Kevin Grullon, 25; and Joiffrey Urena, 27, and Ariel Tavarez, 38.

They are each being charged with one count of conspiring to distribute heroin and cocaine, which carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla the publication reports.

According to officials, the members of Mike’s Candyshop delivered heroin and cocaine on-demand to customers in New York City. Customers would place delivery orders via text message to a centralized phone number, the “Candyshop Number”.

The drug ring stored heroin, cocaine, and cash from drug sales at various stash locations throughout New York. Law enforcement officials alleged that in order to avoid law enforcement detection, Mike’s Candyshop operators sold only to customers who had been referred by existing customers, changing the Candyshop Number periodically; they also used coded language to discuss drugs, and delivered them directly to customers at locations specified by the buyers.

“This illicit enterprise allegedly allowed people to order heroin and cocaine to their doorstep simply by calling the business phone number with the same convenience as if they were ordering a pizza,” Peter Fitzhugh, the special agent in charge of the New York field office of Homeland Security Investigations, said in a statement.

On or about Dec. 16, 2018, Mike’s Candyshop made a delivery to Kroll, identified as “Victim‑1” in court documents. “At the scene of the overdose death, law enforcement officers recovered empty vials with colored tops, and a glassine next to a powder mixture containing, among other substances, heroin and cocaine, along with Victim-1’s cellphone,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Kroll’s phone contained text messages showing that he had ordered narcotics from the Candyshop Number on numerous occasions, and based on the texts, he bought drugs the day before his death, per the official complaint.