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Drug dealer sent to prison

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A Havre man has been sentenced to two years at the Montana State Prison after pleading guilty to drug-related offenses committed while he was serving a suspended sentence.

Gary D. Nanini, 44, was arrested for selling marijuana last fall while he was serving a three-year suspended sentence handed down in June 2001, a criminal complaint said.

The suspended sentence was a result of drug charges stemming from a disturbance call at Nanini's home in November of 1999. Police officers who responded to the call saw several items in the home that indicated drug usage, the complaint said, and Tri-Agency Task Force agents obtained a search warrant for the premises.

During the search, agents uncovered substances and items they identified as being commonly associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine, the complaint said.

Nanini pleaded no contest in May of 2001 to a felony charge of criminal possession of precursors to dangerous drugs and felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs. The no-contest plea means Nanini did not admit to the charges, but acknowledged that there was enough evidence to convict him.

Nanini was subsequently arrested on a felony charge of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs last August when he sold a half-pound of marijuana to a drug task force informant, court documents said.

A month later, Nanini's probation officer conducted a search of Nanini's home, which yielded nearly 64 grams of marijuna, $2,000 in cash, marijuana pipes, rolling papers and "snort tubes," the complaint said.

On Friday in state District Court, Nanini pleaded guilty to violating the conditions of his suspended sentence and to charges of felony criminal distribution of dangerous drugs and felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs. In exchange for the guilty plea, the state dismissed additional charges of misdemeanor criminal possession of drug paraphernalia and felony use or possession of property subject to criminal forfeiture.

State District Judge John Warner revoked Nanini's three-year suspended sentence and ordered him to serve one year plus one day in prison. Nanini was given credit on the three-year sentence for street time served from June 2001 to August 2002, plus 27 days he's already spent in jail, Warner said.

Warner ordered the reinstated sentence to run consecutively with a sentence of one year and one day for the distribution charge. In addition, Warner ordered a two-year suspended sentence for the possession charge.

 

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