A Gwinnett County man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges connected to the fentanyl overdose deaths of two Norcross teenagers who bought what they believed were Percocet pills in February 2023. Drolvin Calix-Rodriguez, now 24, led the drug operation that sold the counterfeit pills to 17-year-old Rodrigo Floriano-Mayen and 16-year-old Julia Zirangua, both of whom died after taking them. His co-defendant, 23-year-old Elizabeth Faye Elliott, was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 20 years on probation after cooperating fully with investigators.
Calix-Rodriguez pleaded guilty to charges including violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and distribution of fentanyl, according to WSB-TV. Prosecutors say he obtained the drugs while Elliott advertised them and drove him to sales; Calix-Rodriguez handled communications and sales himself, and Elliott handled money from the transactions. Elliott pleaded guilty to many of the same charges as Calix-Rodriguez, excluding a firearm charge, and received a reduced sentence for her cooperation, per the same account.
How Detectives Traced the Pills Back to a Social Media Deal
Investigators say another teenager survived an overdose around the same time and provided information that helped identify Calix-Rodriguez and Elliott as the sellers. Gwinnett County Police detectives had already been tracking a digital trail on social media, where the pair advertised counterfeit Percocet and negotiated sales to teenagers, according to WSB Radio. Police have emphasized that digital transaction records ultimately linked the dealers directly to the fatal pills.
Floriano-Mayen was reported missing for days before his mother found his body herself, covered by a tarp inside an abandoned house in Tucker, according to 11Alive. A friend of his was initially arrested and charged with concealing his death before investigators identified the actual drug sellers. Zirangua bought the counterfeit pills on February 23, 2023, and was found dead from fentanyl poisoning in her Lilburn home the next day, the station reported, with family members later starting an online fundraiser to cover her funeral costs.
A Community Reckoning With Youth Overdose Deaths
The two deaths occurred during a surge in teenage overdose fatalities across Gwinnett County. Between January 2021 and February 2023, 18 teenagers died from drug overdoses countywide, with the county medical examiner attributing 17 of those deaths to fentanyl, 11Alive reported. Eleven of the 18 teens who died were Hispanic, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Two young lives were lost to fentanyl,” Gwinnett District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said, adding that greater awareness is needed to prevent more overdose deaths. Under Georgia's 9-1-1 Medical Amnesty Act, people who seek emergency medical help during a drug overdose receive limited immunity from arrest, charge, and prosecution for drug possession, a protection health officials promote specifically to prevent fatal overdoses caused by fear of police involvement.
Why the Case Predates Georgia's Toughest Fentanyl Law
Austin's Law took effect in 2024 and created an aggravated involuntary manslaughter charge specifically for fentanyl distributors. Gwinnett prosecutors have since applied the law elsewhere: in August 2024, authorities charged a 39-year-old Snellville man with aggravated involuntary manslaughter after a fatal fentanyl overdose in Lawrenceville, as Hoodline previously reported.
The Norcross case fits into a broader national crisis. Gwinnett County has continued to see fentanyl cases move through its courts.
