Liam Payne: One hotel employee arrested, another on the run, over the selling of drugs to British singer

A waiter has been charged for supplying Liam Payne with drugs prior to the British singer’s death in October last year and another hotel employee is on the run.

Argentine media reports have said that 24-year-old hotel employee Braian Paiz was apprehended at his home in Ingeniero Budge on Friday.

31-year-old One Direction member Payne died after he fell from a third-floor balcony at the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on 16 October last year.

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On the run

Sky News reports that Paiz and one of his colleagues, Ezequiel Pereyra, were charged with supplying drugs on two occasions, an offence which carries a sentence of up to 15 years, the Argentinian Public Prosecutor’s Office said on Monday.

Media reports have alleged that police raided the home of the 21-year-old Pereyra, but did not find him there.

Quoting an Argentinean publication, The Daily Mail said the suspended hotel worker was not at his home on the outskirts of Buenos Aires when police went to execute the court order and he ‘remains a fugitive.’

Judge Laura Bruniard had given both men 24 hours to hand themselves in so they could be sent to jail but the arrest of Paiz and the attempted detention of Pereyra didn’t take place until today.

Paiz is said to have been held by officers from the Special Investigations Division of the Buenos Aires city police force.

Well-placed sources told Argentinian media they were hopeful of ‘capturing’ Pereyra in the coming hours.

Roger Nores, described as a “representative” of Payne, hotel manager Gilda Martin and receptionist Esteban Grassi have been charged with negligent homicide, a similar offence to manslaughter in UK law which carries a sentence of one to five years.

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Drug deal timeline

The drug deals Paiz and Pereyra have been charged over were dated and timed by prosecutors. 3:25 am on October 15 and “between 3.30 pm and 4 pm” on October 16 in the case of suspended hotel worker Pereyra; and 3:24 am on October 14 and “between 10:03 and 10:44 am” on the same day in the case of Paiz.

Public prosecutors revealed earlier this week that witness statements and CCTV analysis supported the allegation Pereyra had received US dollars 100 from Payne to buy narcotics for him and the singer had sent a car to his home on another occasion to pick up more drugs.

Both men have been warned they face a prison sentence of between four to 15 years if convicted as charged.

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