Four Men Indicted for Fentanyl Conspiracy That Resulted in Overdose Death

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Four Kansas City, Missouri-area men have been indicted for their role in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, which resulted in an overdose death.

Dmitry Cattell, 22, Joseph Burgess, 21, and Jordon Simmer, 20, all of Kansas City, Mo., and Kelton Hill, 22, of Parkville, Mo., were charged in a nine-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday, April 5. That indictment was unsealed and made public following the arrests of all four defendants on Thursday, April 7. They remain in federal custody pending a detention hearing on April 12, 2022.

The federal indictment alleges that all four defendants have participated in a conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl since Sept. 12, 2019.

In addition to the drug-trafficking conspiracy, the indictment charges Cattell and Simmer with aiding and abetting each other to distribute fentanyl, the use of which caused the death of another person, on May 18, 2020. The victim of the fatal overdose is not identified in court documents.

Cattell is also charged with two counts of distributing fentanyl, one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, and one count of being an unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm. Cattell allegedly was in possession of a Taurus handgun on Nov. 10, 2020.

Simmer, Burgess, and Hill each are also charged with one count of possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute.

The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen Brackett and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Byron Black and Mary Kate Butterfield. It was investigated by the FBI, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Platte County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Clay County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Kearney, Mo., Police Department, the Olathe, Kan., Police Department, and the Riverside, Mo., Police Department.

KC Metro Strike Force

This prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks. These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.