A Kansas man will likely spend 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to selling drugs that caused an Olathe man to fatally overdose in 2020.
On Tuesday in Johnson County District Court, Gerrell M. McKoy pleaded guilty to one count each for distribution of drugs causing death, and theft by deception between $25,000 and $100,000, both felonies.
McKoy was accused of selling drugs to a man who later died after taking them.
According to the plea agreement, McKoy agreed to serve 184 months for the first count of distribution of drugs causing death, with the sentence for the lesser theft charge to be served concurrently.
Judge Thomas Sutherland is the presiding judge.
McKoy sold the victim drugs in 2020
On March 26, 2020, Olathe Police responded to a call of an unresponsive individual, identified in court records as Michael Danilov, 25, of Olathe.
A caller told the 911 dispatcher they last talked to Danilov at 3 a.m. that morning when he was playing video games. Later, when the caller went to check on him, they found him slumped over on his desk, cold and unresponsive, according to court documents.
Because Danilov’s death took place during a heightened time of the COVID-19 pandemic, and because the caller said he was showing flu-like symptoms before his death, Olathe police took caution. Still, they determined Danilov’s body had the physical characteristics of a drug overdose.
Near Danilov, police found four 30-mg Oxycodone pills, as well as a hardcover book, credit card and $10 bill that court documents said are often used to consume the pills.
A final autopsy on April 30, 2020, determined he had died of fentanyl intoxication.
Police traced call back to McKoy
After Danilov’s death, a friend of his, whose name is redacted in court documents, contacted police to show a conversation with McKoy, asking him if he sold pills to Danilov.
McKoy responded and said he sold him pills “days ago,” court records show.
Olathe Police were able to execute a search warrant for McKoy and Danilov’s Snapchat accounts and found a conversation between March 15-16, 2020, where they discuss a drug purchase of five M30 Oxycodone pills, also known as “blues.”
On March 16, 2020, Danilov responded to McKoy asking if the drugs he was sold were “legit” and that they felt “stronger than normal,” according to court documents.
McKoy responded that they were legitimate and that he himself had just taken one.
Following that, Danilov sent McKoy a string of incoherent messages. McKoy responded, asking Danilov if he was okay and called him.
A witness later told police that they were sold drugs by McKoy, but he had stopped selling M30 Oxycodone pills because “he sold someone a pill that was fake and he ended up dying from it,” according to court records.
When police spoke with McKoy, he said he sold pills to Danilov and was concerned when he wasn’t able to reach him after the sale, according to court records.
Danilov was a musician and server
Prior to his death, Danilov worked as a server at Anton’s Taproom in Kansas City, Missouri, according to his obituary.
Danilov loved listening to music and traveling to see his favorite bands, as well as gaming, having adventures and making memories with family and friends, his obituary stated.
On Facebook, friends and family created a group compiling photos, videos and memories of Danilov.
“One of his best qualities, besides being an amazing human, was his well-rounded music taste. He showed me music I would never have heard of if it weren’t for him. He was truly a gem,” one friend wrote.
It’s the latest conviction in JoCo involving fentanyl
During the past month, Johnson County District Court has seen two other pleas and sentences involving fentanyl-related deaths.
On Oct. 8, Joseph T. Miller was sentenced by Judge Sutherland to 12 years in prison for the death of Mason Findley, a 33-year-old Olathe native.
On Sept. 23, Hugo Cesar Guzman Jr. was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison for the death of Wesley Howard, a 19-year-old Gardner resident.
Howard’s death should be used as a cautionary tale about the dangers of fentanyl and to prevent future deaths, Jenn Nimmo, Howard’s mother, said in a previous interview with the Johnson County Post.
“If there was a way that I could prevent it from happening to other people, I wanted to take that road. I didn’t want to just hover and collapse over just losing my son because that was horrible enough,” she said.
What’s next
McKoy is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Sutherland on Dec. 18.
Other Johnson County Court news: ‘Future danger to the community’ — KC man who tainted Hereford House food sentenced to prison
