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Richard
By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
LUDINGTON — A 27-year-old New Era man who was sentenced to a minimum of 13 ½ years in prison for 11 felony convictions in Mason County’s 51st Circuit Court, March 11, was sentenced in Oceana County’s 51st Circuit Court Monday, March 24, to a concurrent term of one year and one day to four years.
Levi Alan Richard pleaded guilty to larceny in a building, Feb. 10, in the Oceana County case.
“On or about May 21, 2024, he and (his) co-defendants arranged to have a resident of the home taken for a ride to the dollar store,” said Oceana County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Bizon. “They left the man at the store and took some Play Station consoles, a pair of air soft guns and an empty safe. This occurred in Leavitt Township.”
In Mason County, 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.
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 is presently incarcerated in the Charles E. Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson, where inmates undergo intake processing, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records.
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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