Calvin Ryan Richard, 27, Minot, was sentenced on Wednesday to eight years in prison, all suspended but 18 months, followed by two years of supervised probation on a charge of Class A felony possession with intent to deliver suboxone in the Ward County Jail on Oct. 9 and 10, 2021.

Judge Doug Mattson also ordered Richard to pay court costs.

At the hearing, Mattson asked Richard where he got the drugs. Richard said the drugs came in with legal mail that had been addressed to his cell mate. Correctional officers did not watch the cell mate open the letter because it was ostensibly related to the cell mate’s legal case.

Richard then asked another inmate at the Ward County Jail, Mark Rodgers Jr., 34, if he was interested in buying the suboxone. The phone call between Richard and Rodgers was recorded and listened to by correctional officers. The cell occupied by Richard and his cell mate, Joshua Ornelas, 27, was searched and 16 strips of suboxone were found in the cell.

Suboxone is prescribed to treat opioid addiction but neither Richard nor Ornelas had a prescription.

Mattson commented during the sentencing hearing that there have been recently more cases of illegal drugs at the Ward County Jail. The drugs are usually smuggled in by inmates who have hidden them inside a body cavity, said Mattson. He said the Richard case was not typical. The prosecution had recommended a shorter suspended sentence but Mattson said he increased it to eight years so Richard can be sentenced to the additional jail time if he violates his probation.

Richard is also in custody at the jail on an unrelated charge of Class A felony abuse of a child under the age of six that resulted in permanent injury and is scheduled to go to trial on that charge on Sept. 26. His lawyer, Kyle Craig, said during the sentencing hearing on Wednesday that Richard did not want credit for time served to be applied to the intent to deliver charge because he wants it applied to the child abuse charge should he decide to plead guilty or be found guilty.

Both Ornelas and Rodgers are also in custody in unrelated drug-related cases.