Independence man sentenced in two-year fentanyl trafficking operation, feds say

An Independence man accused of selling thousands of pills containing fentanyl was sentenced in federal court Tuesday.

Wiser Key, 25, pleaded guilty earlier this month to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, as well as possession of a firearm as part of a drug trafficking operation.

He was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison without parole by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Missouri.

Two other Missouri residents — Nikolas Albright, 30, of Cameron, and Demasjiay Cruise, 25, of St. Joseph — have also pleaded guilty to additional roles in the trafficking operation. Both are currently awaiting sentencing.

For the duration of the trafficking operation, which had started by April 1, 2020, Key and Albright would purchase 4,000 to 5,000 fentanyl-laced pills at a time from sources in Mexico and resell or redistribute them in Missouri, according to court records.

Law enforcement officers believe that all of the fentanyl was distributed in Jackson County, according to court documents. The trafficking operation continued for more than two years until Key and his co-defendants were charged in federal court on Nov. 18, 2022.

Key was arrested after selling drugs to an undercover law enforcement officer on March 12 and 31, 2021, according to court records. In both cases, the pills he sold were billed as oxycodone but contained fentanyl.

Fentanyl overdose is currently the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 45, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. An amount of fentanyl the size of a standard packet of sweetener is potent enough to kill 500 people.

Seven out of every 10 pills seized by the DEA in 2023 contained a lethal dose of fentanyl, nearly double the amount seen in 2021.

After a federal search warrant carried out on April 31, 2021, officers found about 39 grams of cocaine and about 8 grams of concentrated THC wax at Key’s home in Independence, along with several bags of unlabeled pills and more marijuana, according to court documents. Officers also found five guns and nearly $25,000 in cash.

Key initially faced multiple charges related to fentanyl distribution before signing a plea agreement on March 27, court documents show.

A Missouri Western District judge recommended that Key be incarcerated as close to Kansas City as possible, so that he could participate in drug treatment programs during his sentence, according to court documents.

Fentanyl sales and fentanyl related overdose has touched hundreds of lives in Kansas City over the past several years. Between 2018 and 2023, fentanyl killed more than 850 people in the nine counties touching the Kansas City metropolitan area, a Star investigation found in 2023.

From 2019 to 2022, fentanyl-related death jumped 654% in Jackson County alone, with 22 fatal fentanyl overdoses reported in 2019 and 166 reported in 2022. Residents between the ages of 20 and 40 have been hit the hardest by overdose, the Star investigation found.

Reporting by The Star’s Laura Bauer and Judy Thomas was used in this article.