KC Man Gets 15 Years in Prison for Providing Carfentanil

A Kansas City, Missouri, man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute carfentanil after a teenager who ingested half of one pill nearly died of an overdose.

The Kansas City Star reports that 21-year-old Gage Lankas pleaded guilty in October and was sentenced Friday.

Carfentanil is a synthetic drug. A dose is about 5,000 times more powerful than the same amount of heroin.

The investigation began in 2017 after a 17-year-old from Grain Valley was rushed to a hospital with an overdose. The teen survived and told police he acquired pills from Lankas. He said he snorted just half of one bill that he mistook for oxycodone.