He is the second of two men accused of giving him drugs British singer Liam Paynewho fell to his death from a third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires last year, turned himself in to authorities, Argentine police said Tuesday.
David Ezequiel Pereyra, 21, turned himself in to police on Monday in Barracas, south of Buenos Aires, a police source told AFP.
Pereyra was an employee at the Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentine capital where the former One Direction singer died last October.
Last week, police arrested 24-year-old hotel waiter Braian Paiz – accused by Pereyra of giving Payne drugs. Paiz's attorney confirmed to CBS News that he was taken into custody. Toxicology tests after Payne's death found “traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant” in his body.
A total of five people are accused in the death of the pop singer. Three of them – Payne's representative in Argentina, the hotel manager and the head of reception – are charged with manslaughter in the case.
Prosecutors said last month that the hotel manager and reception manager of the hotel allowed Payne to take him up to his room, which had a balcony, to keep him in a place free from sources of danger, and with company, until the medical help arrived.
Hotel staff called the police that day to report an “aggressive man who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” a spokesperson for the Buenos Aires Police said in a statement to CBS News back on October 16, the day of Payne's death.
Payne had spoken publicly about struggling with substance abuse and dealing with fame at a young age.
His death prompted a global outpouring of grief from his family, former bandmates and fans, with gatherings of thousands of mourners around the world.
One of the world's highest-grossing live acts of the 2010s, One Direction went on an unprecedented journey in 2016. Payne had some success before his career stalled.
