A drug dealer who reportedly sold to Olympia High School students was sentenced Wednesday to just under 3 years in prison for his involvement in the December 2024 death of a teen.
Son Thien Nguyen, 35, pleaded guilty Feb. 10 to second-degree manslaughter and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance charges. He was initially charged in January 2025.
He was sentenced March 11 to 34 months in prison followed by 18 months of probation for the manslaughter charge, and 20 months in prison followed by 12 months of probation for the drug possession charge. The sentences will run concurrently.
Nguyen entered his guilty plea on Feb. 10 — 13 days before his trial was scheduled to begin.
A handful of unlawful firearm possession and drug possession charges were dropped as part of the plea deal Nguyen accepted.
The standard sentencing range, which is calculated based on the crime and defendant’s criminal history, is 24 to 36 months for the manslaughter charge and 12 to 20 months for the delivery of a controlled substance charge.
Nguyen delivered methylenedioxymethampetamine, also known as ecstasy, laced with fentanyl to a 16-year-old former Olympia High School student on Dec. 19, 2024.
The teen was taken to the hospital for a suspected overdose later that same day, and died shortly after.
“I delivered some of that methylenedioxymethamphetamine, a.k.a. ‘ecstacy,’ with criminal negligence to a minor,” Nguyen wrote in his guilty plea to one count each of second-degree manslaughter and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance.
Nguyen added that the minor ingested that substance on Dec. 19 “and died from an overdose and this occurred in Thurston County, Washington.”
Video footage provided to police reportedly shows a silver Toyota Prius pull up in front of the teen’s residence at about 2:53 p.m. on Dec. 19. The vehicle was reportedly registered to Nguyen.
Video reportedly shows the teen reach into the Prius with his right hand, immediately put his hand into his right pants pocket, and then say something to an occupant of the vehicle before the vehicle drives away.
The Olympia Fire Department was dispatched at about 10:31 p.m. that evening for a suspected overdose.
An investigation by the Olympia Police Department identified Nguyen as a drug dealer that sold to Olympia High School students through a Snapchat account, according to court documents.
The victim was not a current Olympia High School student at the time of his death, but had previously attended the school.
The Thurston County Narcotics Task Force reportedly had an ongoing investigation into Nguyen at the time of the teen’s death.
Nguyen was arrested on Jan. 6, 2025, with his wife, young child, and a firearm in the vehicle. A search of Nguyen’s home yielded multiple firearms, vape pens, boxes of unidentified pills, THC gummies, drug-related candy, marijuana, mushrooms, pills, ammunition and other suspected narcotics.
Nguyen was reportedly cooperative in the investigation and disclosed his own struggles with methamphetamine addiction, according to court documents.
