On Wednesday, a 19-year-old from Kansas City’s Westport pleaded in federal court to trafficking fentanyl and illegally possessing more than a dozen weapons, following his arrest two months prior in connection with a homicide investigation.
Ban N. To, a Kansas City resident, pled guilty in the Western District of Missouri to felony charges of fentanyl distribution, guns possession for the purpose of drug trafficking, and machine gun possession. Until his sentencing hearing, he must stay in federal detention.
The charges were filed during a traffic stop conducted by Kansas City police on April 15. To’s SUV was spotted fleeing the site of a shooting when 20-year-old Malik Akins was killed in Westport, close to the intersection of 40th and Washington streets.
According to the evidence presented in court, To was not charged with a crime for the deadly shooting. Two guys were seen exchanging gunfire with Akins in a nearby surveillance camera before fleeing in a Toyota Highlander.
The tweet below verifies the news:
The 19-year-old was stopped by Kansas City police in April after his vehicle was connected to a fatal Westport shooting, according to court documents. https://t.co/y1EbUcr732
— The Kansas City Star (@KCStar) June 22, 2023
The license plate was allegedly photographed by surveillance cameras, and a stop order was issued for the SUV, according to court documents filed in Jackson County at the end of April. According to the prosecution, four weapons (two of which were reported stolen) and 75 fentanyl pills were found in To’s car during a search.
Prosecutors claim that To called his girlfriend from Jackson County Jail, where he was being kept, and asked her to retrieve some luggage from a storage locker. Two Glock pistols, converted to fully automatic by a converter switch, were among the nine weapons found in the locker by the police.
To is looking at a mandatory minimum of five years in jail without parole under federal law. As of Wednesday, no date for the sentence hearing had been set.
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