photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

A Lawrence Police Department patrol vehicle is pictured June 28, 2022.

Updated at 4:25 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2

A Lawrence woman was charged on Thursday in connection with the fentanyl overdose death of a 26-year-old man in 2022.

The woman, Terriana Audry Atkinson, 25, is charged in Douglas County District Court with one felony count of distribution of a controlled substance causing death, according to charging documents. The charges are in connection with the overdose death of Cameron Bricker, 26, of Lawrence, on Dec. 9, 2022, at his apartment on East 24th Street. According to his autopsy, Bricker died of a combination of fentanyl and ethanol intoxication.

Atkinson was booked into the Douglas County Jail around 2:50 p.m. Wednesday.

At Atkinson’s first appearance on Thursday, Judge Sally Pokorny said that Atkinson faces a minimum of 147 months, or a little more than 12 years, in prison if she is convicted. Pokorny appointed Lead Assistant Public Defender Angelo Panas with the Seventh Judicial District Public Defender Office to represent Atkinson.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Deiter asked Pokorny to set a $100,000 cash or surety bond for Atkinson. He said that the state believes that Atkinson has continued to sell fentanyl-laced drugs since Bricker’s death and poses a risk to the community.

Panas said that Atkinson should be released on an own-recognizance bond, meaning she wouldn’t be required to pay any money to be released from jail but she may be charged that amount if she fails to appear in court.

Panas said that Atkinson is 6 months pregnant and has a 1-year-old child at home whom she needs to care for. He said Atkinson has little to no criminal history and would agree to wear a GPS monitoring device.

Pokorny said she has other defendants charged similarly who are also out on own-recognizance bonds and that Atkinson would also be given the opportunity. Pokorny said that Atkinson would be granted the $100,000 own-recognizance bond but that she would also be ordered to house arrest with work release.

Police Chief Rich Lockhart mentioned that the department was investigating the death of Cameron Bricker, who died on that day back in June, after the department responded to three suspected fentanyl overdoses in one night, one of them being a fatal overdose, as the Journal-World reported.

The Lawrence Police Department confirmed that the alleged victim was Bricker. A spokesperson for the department, Laura McCabe, said in an email to the Journal-World that the department was proud of the work investigators put into the case. McCabe said that Atkinson was safely taken into custody without incident.