Suspect convicted in two cases | News, sports, jobs

two separate counts of entering a change of plea in delivery of fentanyl and cashing a stolen check.

Dalton Gunnar Johnson, 32, Minot, changed his plea Friday in North Central District Court, pleading guilty to one class C felony count of unauthorized use of personally identifiable information – obtaining credit in the first case, and delivery of Class B felonies. fentanyl and class A misdemeanor possession of methamphetamine in the second.

In the first case, the Ward County Sheriff’s Department responded to a report from the victim in January after a forged check was deposited into their bank account, according to the affidavit of probable cause. The forged check for $886.74 was written to Johnson and cashed at a Minot credit union on December 19, 2023. The victim said the check was likely taken from her car after it was broken into a month earlier. Johnson was later identified by investigators through credit union security video

District Judge Stacy Louser sentenced Johnson to five years of service with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, with all but 30 suspended. Johnson was given credit for the 44 days he had already served and ordered to complete two years of supervised probation. Restitution is reserved pending a future hearing. A second class A misdemeanor forgery charge was dismissed.

Johnson was also fined $525 and ordered to pay court costs.

In the second case, Johnson was arrested in October following an investigation by the Ward County Narcotics Task Force into a drug trafficking operation at a southwest Minot hotel.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Task Force agents arrested an individual at the hotel who reported purchasing the narcotics from Johnson and identified the room at the hotel where the exchange took place.

The Task Force made contact with Johnson through the door. Officers were forced to break the locking mechanism to enter the room, where they observed Johnson flushing a plastic Ziplock bag and a metal device into the toilet before being arrested. A search of the room and Johnson’s person turned up $5,000, a variety of paraphernalia, digital scales, two fake handguns and approximately 11 grams of fentanyl.

Louser sentenced Johnson to serve 18 months of a 10-year sentence in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, with credit for the 44 days he had already served. Johnson was ordered to complete three years of supervised probation upon his release, along with a chemical dependency evaluation. Johnson was also assessed $775 in court fines and fees. Four other charges of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, tampering with physical evidence and evading arrest were dismissed.