Federal prosecutors in Kansas City and Jefferson City say Boone County ranks in the top ten among all of Missouri’s 114 counties for fatal overdose deaths.
U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore of Missouri’s Western District released that statistic on Wednesday after a Columbia man pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl in the Columbia area.
31-year-old Ryan Knudsen has been sentenced to ten years in federal prison without parole, after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and to a gun charge in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. With his guilty plea, Knudsen admits selling fentanyl to customers in Columbia. Court documents indicate law enforcement officers had been tracking Knudsen when he traveled to St. Louis in August 2021. Federal prosecutors say that on his return trip, he left a bag in a light pole at a Kingdom City car wash. Authorities say that bag contained 22 fentanyl capsules. Police later stopped a vehicle that Knudsen was traveling in, and federal prosecutors say he had a bag that contained 384 capsules with 34 grams of fentanyl.
Columbia Police and federal DEA agents were involved in the Knudsen investigation.
U.S. Attorney Moore says Boone County ranks in the top ten of all 114 Missouri counties for fatal overdose deaths. Federal prosecutors say fentanyl and other non-heroin opioids cause a significant majority of those deaths.
