Man charged with distributing drug that caused death of Johnson County high school senior

JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. (KCTV) - A Grandview man is charged with felony distribution of a drug that caused the death of an 18-year-old Shawnee Mission East senior in September of 2021.

Cameron Bryant, 27, was arrested this week to face charges filed against him earlier this year.

In Kansas, individuals who sell a drug that causes another person’s death can be charged with a level 1 felony of distribution causing death.

The charge carries a minimum punishment of 12 years in prison for defendants who do not have a prior criminal history. The sentence can increase to up to 30-40 years in prison for those who have prior criminal histories.

“It gives us real teeth at the state level to be able to go after the individuals who are dealing death,” said Johnson County, Kansas, District Attorney Steve Howe.

Last year, 79 people in Johnson County died from opiate overdoses. Howe said pills marked with “M-30″ are the most common form of fentanyl being sold in Johnson County, Kansas.

“We had 500 NARCAN deployments,” Howe said. “If you think about it in terms of ‘if not for that miracle drug,’ we would have had 500 more deaths in Johnson County in 2022. The scariest part is, we had over 50 of those deployments inside our public schools.”

Bryant is also facing six additional drug-related counts for using a cell phone during the commission of a felony.

He is scheduled to be back in court next week. His bond was set at $250,000.

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