A Michigan man who intended to deal more than 200 oxycodone pills on the Fort Berthold Reservation in October of 2019 has been sentenced in U.S. District Court to 2 1/2 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised probation.

Michael Bryant Ellington, 33, is currently in custody at the Ward County Jail. He will receive credit for the three months he was held in custody prior to being sentenced on Jan. 21.

According to an affidavit filed with the federal court by David Stewart, a detective with the Bismarck Police Department, Ellington and Byron Jerome Cooper, 32, came into Bismarck on a bus from Michigan, They were picked up at the bus station by William White Owl and Franki White Owl from New Town. The vehicle was stopped. A combined 209 30 mg oxycodone pills were found in the vehicle – 149 pills near the center console of the vehicle. Another small plastic baggie containing 60 30 mg oxycodone pills was found on Cooper when he was searched at the Burleigh County Jail. Franki White Owl told authorities that she had picked up Ellington one other time from the bus station and driven him to New Town where he distributed oxycodone pills. Franki White Owl said she had purchased about 50 oxycodone pills from Ellington on the prior trip.

According to the affidavit, there are multiple drug rings based in Michigan that have transporting oxycodone into North Dakota for distribution, often on the Fort Berthold reservation. In Bismarck, the interstate bus system has been used to transport the drugs into North Dakota. According to police affidavits in other cases, the Amtrak station in Minot has also served as a mini hub for the transport of drugs in North Dakota, including in the Minot area and on the Fort Berthold reservation.

Conspiracy and intent to distribute oxycodone charges are still pending against Cooper, William White Owl and Franki White Owl in U.S. District Court.