A man admitted Wednesday that he delivered a fatal dose of MDMA that killed a Wonder Lake teen remembered for his love of music and watching sunsets.

Carlos Manuel Paiz, 20, pleaded guilty to drug-induced homicide, a Class X felony, and was sentenced to six years in prison. A Class X felony carries a prison term of six to 30 years. In exchange for the guilty plea, a charge of unlawful delivery was dismissed, McHenry County Judge Mark Gerhardt said during Wednesday’s hearing.

Court records show Paiz lived in Wonder Lake, although prosecutors said he was living in Ringwood at the time he was selling an array of drugs, for which he advertised “a menu” on an app and also said he made his “own product.”

At an initial court appearance last September, prosecutors said Paiz had made statements that he knew he was selling “low quality” drugs around the time he sold MDMA to 17-year-old Brenden Roewer before the teen’s death in October 2024.

Roewer’s cause of death “was a combined drug toxicity, and the manner of death was an accident,” McHenry County Coroner Michael Rein said. The teen had a mix of Xanax, MDMA and amphetamine in his system, according to court testimony.

During Paiz’s initial appearance, Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Conroy said Paiz had posted messages on the app indicating he knew his customers had experienced adverse effects from his drug supply, yet he continued to sell and said he wasn’t responsible for his buyers’ reacting adversely.

Although Paiz expressed his condolences after learning Roewer died, Conroy said, he continued selling drugs and fled. Paiz was arrested on a warrant in an airport in Miami, authorities said.

At that same hearing where Paiz was denied pretrial release, Assistant Public Defender David Giesinger argued that the coroner determined Roewer had other drugs in his system. He said Roewer died from “drug toxicity,” but the coroner did not specify from which drug. Giesinger also argued that it is not common to die from MDMA.

Roewer attended Woodstock North High School and after graduation, he had plans to enroll in a trade school to be an electrician, according to an online obituary.

“Brenden had a lot of passions in life with music being the most impacting and calming to him,” according to the obituary. “He enjoyed sitting by the water and watching sunsets, mainly at the small park in town. He had his favorite bench and could sit there for hours just listening to his music, watching the sunset and being at peace.”

Later Wednesday, his mother, Anna Cummuta said her son “beat to his own drum and he is greatly missed.” He had two little brothers, now 7 and 10 years old, who “miss him like crazy. He was a great big brother,” Cummuta said through her tears.

Paiz, who has no other criminal history, is required to serve 75% of his prison term followed by two years of mandatory supervised release. He is receiving credit for 191 days in the county jail, a judgment order shows. In the order, the judge also noted that the offense was “committed as a result of the use of, abuse of, or addiction to alcohol or a controlled substance.”

Cummata said of the sentence: “I don’t think it’s fair.”

“He will get out [of prison] one day and he will have kids, he will get to watch his grandchildren grow up and my son will not get that and neither will I,” she said.

Cummuta said Roewer “was just a beautiful kid, and he is missed beyond words – beyond.”