A Minot man has been sentenced to three years with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation after pleading guilty to the distribution of fentanyl resulting in overdoses in April.

Travis Fletcher Kruczek, 25, Minot, was sentenced after entering a change of plea in North Central District Court on Aug. 12, pleading guilty to two counts of distribution of controlled substance resulting in death or injury, a Class A felony; and one count of possession with intent to deliver fentanyl analog, a Class B felony. A Class C felony count of tampering with physical evidence was dismissed.

According to court documents, Fletcher Kruczek was charged in April after Minot police responded to a report of two individuals overdosing in a downtown apartment. Responding officers arrived on scene and the two individuals were located and transported to a Minot hospital for treatment and evaluation. Officers located a zip lock bag containing a hard white substance inside the pants pocket of one of the individuals, who was identified as Lynn Wilson Jerauld, 22, Minot.

A resident of the apartment told officers Jerauld had purchased what he believed to be cocaine from a coworker.

Jerauld was interviewed at the hospital and identified Fletcher Kruczek as the source of the narcotics. Jerauld said Fletcher Kruczek told him he hadn’t tried the product, which he indicated he found while walking to work. Jerauld was charged with one count of distribution of controlled substance-resulting in death or injury.

According to court documents, Ward County Narcotics Task Force officers initiated a search of Fletcher Kruczek’s apartment and observed evidence of narcotics distribution but did not locate anyone inside. The officers then observed Fletcher Kruczek running behind the apartment complex and tossing an item into a dumpster. The item was retrieved and determined by a field test to be a solid form of fentanyl. Fletcher Kruczek was arrested and admitted while his name was on the apartment searched previously, he resided in a neighboring unit.

Fletcher Kruczek admitted to selling the narcotics to Jerauld during a subsequent interview with investigators, according to the affidavit. Investigators sought and executed a search warrant at the apartment Fletcher Kruczek was residing in,= and found a deceased male in one of the rooms. Additional evidence of narcotics distribution was found in the unit. Fletcher Kruczek admitted in an interview that he discovered his roommate dead and fled the apartment to dispose of the narcotics as he was worried his roommate had used his drugs and died.

District Judge Todd Cresap sentenced Fletcher Kruczek to serve 20 years with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the two counts of distribution resulting in death or injury, with all but three years suspended, pending the completion of three years of supervised probation. He was given credit for 121 days already served and assessed $1,025 in court fines and fees.

Cresap sentenced Fletcher Kruczek to time served for the possession with intent to deliver charge, along with three years of supervised probation. He was assessed an additional $775 in court fines and fees.