Ex-football player sentenced in death of college star aspiring to play in NFL, feds say
When a Rice University football star didn’t show up to practice in March 2018, authorities responded and later found his body.
An autopsy found that he had died from “the toxic effects of carfentanil,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office from the Southern District of Texas.
Carfentanil is “a synthetic opioid approximately 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl.”
Stuart Mouchantaf, a former Rice football player and team captain from Katy, where he played at Cinco Ranch High School, was accused of providing the pills that led to Blain Padgett’s death, according to a federal indictment.
Mouchantaf pleaded guilty on Feb. 20, 2020 to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute, causing death, and possession with the intent to distribute, causing death, according to the Beaumont Enterprise..
Two years later, on Feb. 17, 2022, the 27-year-old was sentenced to 12 years in prison and three years of supervised release, according to the news release.
“Yesterday was a very painful day in court, for everyone involved,” said Steven Lafuente, the defense attorney for Mouchantaf, in a Feb. 18 statement to McClatchy News. “...It is a true tragedy because Stu and Blaine were good friends and teammates. My client is very tormented by having played a part in Blaine’s death. We’re happy that we beat the 20 year minimum sentence, but at the end of the day, nobody wins in a situation like this.”
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake said that this “was one of the more difficult cases he had heard,” according to a news release, and the sentence is “necessary to promote general deterrence from the crime and respect for the law as well as just punishment for the offense.”
Padgett was a 6-5, 250-pound defensive lineman from Sour Lake, in southeast Texas, who attended Hardin-Jefferson High School. At Rice, he played as a true freshman in 2015 and started in 2016 and 2017 before being injured. He had aspired to play in the NFL, officials say, and the court heard testimony from his mom, dad and sister.
His sister, Kennedy, told the court that “no amount of years is going to give us justice, in my eyes,” according to the Houston Chronicle. Justice to her, she said, would occur if at least one person shared how the families of both football stars were affected by this case so others would make different choices.
Prosecutors said Mouchantaf supplied Padgett a total of five pills and he took two before his death, according to the Beaumont Enterprise.
Mouchantaf said he did not know the pills were lethal, according to the Houston Chronicle.
“I will always regret the decisions that led me here,” Mouchantaf told the court, according to the newspaper.
Mouchantaf has already been in custody, officials say, and he now will be transferred to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility. The location has not yet been determined.
Rice University is a private college in Houston.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Ex-football player sentenced in death of college star aspiring to play in NFL, feds say."