(Omaha, NE) -- A jury has convicted 29-year-old Michael Reis of Omaha for distributing fentanyl that resulted in the death of 4-year-old.
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) Deputies were dispatched to the Aspen Grove apartment complex March 12, 2022 for an unresponsive 4-year-old. The child died at the hospital, due to fentanyl toxicity.
Michael Reis was later identified as a person of interest. On March 27, 2022, Reis was arrested on an outstanding warrant. A search warrant was executed on Reis’s phone which detailed an extensive history of selling pills to the child’s mother. Messages found in Reis’s phone from March 12, 2022, showed that Reis delivered a pill to the child’s mother and that Reis received digital payment from her.
“I am immensely proud of the team efforts of our DCSO Deputies and our local and federal partners in law enforcement, as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office, to bring justice to [this child],” said Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson. “Fentanyl and fentanyl dealers are a true scourge in our community. Those who deal and recklessly possess fentanyl should know that there is no room for them in a safe civil society and that they will be pursued and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Sentencing is set for January 9, 2024. The penalties for distributing fentanyl resulting in death include a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 20 years. There is no maximum sentence.
Michael Reis has a second federal case in which he pled guilty to sex trafficking of a minor. Sentencing for that matter is set for December 5, 2024. The penalties for sex trafficking a minor include a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years. The maximum sentence is life.