KCK man sentenced for distributing drugs related to 2016 overdose death
A Kansas City, Kansas, man will serve just over 12 years in prison for selling opioids leading to an overdose death in 2016.
Michael Bickley, 27, is the only person charged so far in a Johnson County effort to prosecute sellers in overdose cases.
He pleaded guilty in Johnson County District Court in August to distributing drugs leading to the 2016 death of 27-year-old Matthew Martinek.
Charges related to possession of drugs were dropped by prosecutors as part of a plea agreement.
The 147-month sentence was less than suggested in sentencing guidelines.
According to court documents requesting the shorter sentence, Bickley and Martinek were friends and the heroin, which led to Martinek’s death, was given to Martinek by Bickley and was not part of a drug sale.
Shortly after Bickley was charged in 2016, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced plans to criminally investigate all opiate overdose cases.
Howe told the Star in August, while the county has investigated a number of cases, Bickley is the only person that has been charged so far.
He said these cases are difficult to prosecute but key in combating opioid addiction.
From 2015 to 2017, Johnson County recorded 149 overdose deaths, the second-highest number in the state, according to Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s county health rankings.
