A Baldwin City man provided a drug that contributed to another man’s death, newly filed criminal charges allege.

Authorities say the case was a urine sample switching plot that had unintended and deadly consequences.

Justin R. Jones, 34, was arrested on the charges and released on $50,000 bond Thursday, court and jail records show. He’s scheduled to appear in Douglas County District Court on May 10.

Jones is charged with one count of distribution of a controlled substance, causing death, according to a complaint filed April 12. He’s also charged with one count each of distributing methadone and unlawful use of a communication facility, both felonies.

On Sept. 17, 2017, emergency personnel were dispatched on a medical call where a 47-year-old Baldwin City resident was in cardiac arrest and died, Baldwin City Police Chief Greg Neis said.

After receiving more information about the circumstances, police asked the coroner to do further testing. Neis said the coroner found methadone in the man’s blood and determined that the drug, which had not been prescribed to him, contributed to his death.

Methadone is a synthetic opioid prescribed for pain management that is also provided through treatment programs to treat opioid addiction, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Neis said the police investigation revealed that Jones had been prescribed methadone and was supposed to be taking it instead of other drugs he was addicted to. But he wasn’t, and he formulated a plan to provide a fake urine sample to a treatment center so methadone would show up but the other drugs wouldn’t, Neis said.

To do that, Neis said, Jones gave the man who later died methadone, with a plan to submit that man’s urine in place of his own.