A change of plea hearing has been scheduled for May 12 for Racheal Ann Parizek, 45, Mandan, formerly of Minot, who was indicted last year on a federal charge for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, distribution of fentanyl, and maintaining a drug-involved premises in the Bismarck area last year along with co-conspirators. She has agreed to plead guilty to a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl charge, according to court documents. Parizek is currently in custody at the Ward County Jail in Minot. No sentence recommendation is listed in the proposed plea agreement, which notes that Parizek has past convictions for drug dealing. The prosecution will dismiss two of the indictments in exchange for her guilty plea to the conspiracy charge.

According to a law enforcement affidavit filed with the federal court, Parizek had been selling heroin in Mandan on behalf of co-conspirator Dederick Reshade Aldridge, 43. Aldridge had rented a room at a Bismarck hotel on March 11, 2020, which authorities searched and found 10 grams of fentanyl that he had hidden inside the legs of an ironing board that was hanging on the wall in the hotel room, along with $5,000 in U.S. currency and a digital scale with drug residue. Aldridge was located and arrested.

He said he had gone to Parizek’s residence to discuss money that Parizek owed him. He admitted that he had given Parizek more than 150 grams of heroin over a period of time, which he intended for her to distribute in the area. Parizek had previously admitted to authorities that she had been selling approximately 70 grams of heroin per week for Aldridge since August of 2019, and she estimated that she had made $300,000 for Aldridge from selling the heroin he provided to her. Aldridge told authorities that he sold the heroin for between $175 to $200 per gram.

Aldridge is scheduled to go to trial on June 21 in U.S. District Court in Bismarck.