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By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
LUDINGTON — A 27-year-old New Era man was sentenced to a minimum of 13 ½ years in prison for 11 felony convictions in Mason County’s 51st Circuit Court Tuesday, March 11.
Richard
Levi Alan Richard pleaded no contest Jan. 14 to two counts of delivery/manufacture of methamphetamine; one count of conspiracy to deliver/manufacture methamphetamine; four counts of felony firearm; one count of delivery/manufacture of cocaine, heroin or another narcotic; one count of firearms possession by a prohibited person; one count of ammunition possession by a prohibited person; and one count of fleeing a police officer.
Richard received a sentence of 138 months (11 ½ years) to 40 years for the meth delivery convictions and a consecutive term of two years for the firearms convictions. He received concurrent terms of 20 months to 20 years for the other convictions.
“In this case, we’re talking about a large quantity of methamphetamine,” said Mason County Prosecuting Attorney Beth Hand. Richard, who was carrying a gun, led police officers on a high speed chase. A loaded pistol was found under the driver’s seat where he was seated after he bailed from the vehicle, said Hand.
Co-defendant Dakota Raymond Wilber, 34, was a passenger in the car Richard was driving, said Hand. Wilber faces two counts of delivery/manufacture of methamphetamine; three counts of delivery/manufacture of cocaine, heroin or another narcotic and one count of analogues possession. Wilber, who is lodged in Mason County Jail on a $150,000 cash/surety bond, is scheduled to appear in court April 22 for a motion hearing.
Richard began selling drugs to afford his own meth habit, said his attorney Andrew LaPres. At the time of his arrest, he and Wilber had 8 grams of cocaine inside their car, he said. They had 4 oz. of meth, said Hand.
Richard has suffered from drug addiction for many years and started smoking marijuana when he was 11 years old, said LaPres.
Richard, who was on parole at the time of his offense, has been lodged in the Mason County Jail on a $250,000 bond since his arrest last May. He received zero credit for his time served in jail because of his parole status. It will be up to the parole board to determine his sentence for his parole violation, and the sentence will be served concurrently to his other prison terms.
“He’s on parole, so he’s been sitting (in jail) for quite a long time with no (jail) credit at all,” said Prosecutor Hand. His parole violation sanction will be served first; then he will serve two years on the weapons convictions; and then 11 ½ to 40 years for the other counts.
Richard is scheduled for sentencing March 24 in Oceana County’s 51st Circuit Court for a conviction of larceny in a building. He pleaded guilty to the charge Feb. 10.
He was sentenced to two to 20 years in prison in Oceana County’s 27th Circuit Court (now 51st Circuit Court) Jan. 13, 2020 for a conviction of delivery/manufacture of methamphetamine. Richard, whose address is listed as 3591 S. Water Rd., pleaded guilty Nov. 4, 2019.
He previously testified that he was arrested at the Electric Forest Festival in Rothbury after selling meth to an undercover officer.
He was sentenced in Muskegon County March 12, 2020 for a two-count conviction of delivery/manufacture of methamphetamine and was sentenced to three years and four months to 20 years in prison, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records. Richard was paroled from prison March 12, 2024.
In 2016 when he was 19 years old, Richard was sentenced to serve 45 days up front of a six-month discretionary jail term in Oceana County’s 27th Circuit Court, for a conviction of third-degree home invasion.
“I think it’s very important that we hold drug dealers accountable and give them sentences that will deter others from bringing drugs into Mason County — because we don’t want them here,” said Prosecutor Hand in an interview after the hearing. “You come to Mason County with a substantial amount of drugs, you’re going to do a substantial amount of prison.”
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