Local drug dealer gets 5-year suspended sentence

Local drug dealer Kenneth S. Gardipee received a five-year suspended sentence with the Department of Corrections and was ordered to pay nearly $2,500 in fines, in accordance with a plea deal, after pleading guilty to three counts of drug distribution charges.

Gardipee was arrested in August 2012 in a car that was later found to be lined with drugs in various hiding spots front to back — under the hood, in the doors, under the center console and in the trunk.

A total of 86 hydrocodone, clonazepam, methadone and oxycodone pills of various doses were found in the car. The total amount of cocaine found was 30.4 grams. The sum of meth found was 34.2 grams. Officers also found a shotgun and a pistol. The pistol was later confirmed by a Rocky Boy criminal investigator as stolen.

Gardipee’s public defender, Karen Alley, said Monday afternoon that Gardipee would be a good candidate for community supervision because this was the first time he’d been convicted of a felony. Gardipee had spent 167 days in jail while awaiting resolution of the case.

State District Court Daniel Boucher said he also took into account that Gardipee’s offenses were nonviolent when agreeing with the County Attorney Gina Dahl and Alley on Gardipee's sentence.

Gardipee apologized for his actions and told Boucher that he “won’t take the chance to turn my life around for granted.”

Boucher told Gardipee he needed to find treatment on his own.

“If you don’t," Boucher said to Gardipee, "you’ll end up back here.”