Santa Monica Police Investigate 16-Year-Old's Drug-Related Death

SANTA MONICA, CA — Santa Monica police are investigating a 16-year-old's death from possible prescription drug use Sunday afternoon.

The teenager was Dr. Laura Berman's son, Samuel, according to media reports. Berman is a sex therapist who has been featured on OWN. She shared the following statement via Instagram, indicating her child had purchased prescription drugs via Snapchat and overdosed in his bedroom.

"My beautiful boy is gone. 16 years old. Sheltering at home. A drug dealer connected with him on Snapchat and gave him fentanyl-laced Xanax or Percocet (toxicology will tell) and he overdosed in his room. They do this because it hooks people even more and is good for business but It causes overdose and the kids don’t know what they are taking. My heart is completely shattered and I am not sure how to keep breathing. I post this now only so that not one more kid dies. We watched him so closely. Straight A student. Getting ready for college. Experimentation gone bad. He got the drugs delivered to the house. Please watch your kids and WATCH SNAPCHAT especially. That’s how they get them."

The teen was found unconscious at 4:24 p.m. Sunday in the 1000 block of Yale Street, near Washington Avenue, Lt. Rudy Flores of the Santa Monica Police Department said in a news release.

"A preliminary investigation leads us to believe prescription drug use may have been involved," Flores said.

"While the case is currently with the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office, a parallel investigation is underway with the Santa Monica Police Department Criminal Investigations Division," Flores said.

The investigation is ongoing and no additional information was immediately available, police said. Patch reached out to Santa Monica Police Department officials for more information.

Anyone with information about this incident was asked to contact Criminal Investigations Detective S. Pollnow at (310) 458-8455 or Police Dispatch at 310-458-8491.

Snapchat responded to the teen's death and told Patch they are directly working with the Santa Monica Police Department.

“Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of Samuel Berman Chapman and we are heartbroken by his passing," a Snap spokesperson told Patch.

“We are committed to working together with law enforcement in this case and in all instances where Snapchat is used for illegal purposes," the spokesperson said. "We have zero tolerance for using Snapchat to buy or sell illegal drugs. Using Snapchat for illegal purposes is firmly against our community guidelines and we enforce against these violations. We are constantly improving our technological capabilities to detect drug-related activity so that we can intervene proactively. If you witness illegal behavior on Snapchat, please use our in-app tools to report it quickly and confidentially, so we can take action.

"We have no higher priority than keeping Snapchat a safe environment and we will continue to invest in protecting our community," the spokesperson said.

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