Date: Sept. 24, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Kansas City, MO — An Independence, MO, man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and for illegally possessing a firearm. Wiser Key was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to 25 years in federal prison without parole. On March 27, 2024, Key pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. Key admitted that he engaged in drug transactions with an undercover law enforcement officer. In one transaction, for example, the undercover officer paid Key $8,500 in exchange for 1,000 counterfeit oxycodone tablets, which contained fentanyl. In another transaction, an undercover officer paid Key $6,000 in exchange for 750 counterfeit oxycodone pills, which contained fentanyl. On April 30, 2021, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Key’s residence. Officers found multiple plastic bags that contained tablets, approximately 8 kilograms of suspected THC wax, approximately 39 grams of suspected cocaine, multiple bags of suspected marijuana, an FN handgun, a loaded Glock .40-caliber handgun, a loaded Springfield 9mm handgun, a loaded Sig Sauer .40-caliber handgun, a Harrington and Richardson 20-gauge shotgun, and $24,676 in cash. According to court documents, Key distributed at least 120,000 counterfeit pills, which contained fentanyl, during the conspiracy. He and a co-defendant purchased 4,000 to 5,000 pills at a time from sources in Mexico. Key is the first defendant to be sentenced in this case. Co-defendants Nilolas Albright of Cameron, MO, and Demasjiay Cruse of St. Joseph, MO, have pleaded guilty to their roles in the drug-trafficking conspiracy and await sentencing. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maureen A. Brackett, Stephanie C. Bradshaw and John C. Constance. It was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the FBI; the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department; the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department; the Buchanan County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department; and the St. Joseph, Mo., Police Department. IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
