IDAHO FALLS – An Idaho Falls man who tried to get away from police on a skateboard and was charged with trafficking meth and fentanyl has been sentenced to probation.
Justin Roy Richards, 42, faced multiple charges, including two felony trafficking counts for meth and fentanyl, felony possession of a controlled substance, and three misdemeanor charges for drug counts and resisting an officer.
He accepted a plea agreement on Dec. 10, in which he agreed to plead guilty to one count of possession with intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance. The state agreed to dismiss the remaining charges.
According to the agreement, Richards would apply to treatment court, and the state would recommend probation with the completion of the program. However, in the event that he is not accepted, the state would argue what the sentence will be but would not go past a retained jurisdiction.
This would also run concurrently with a case from 2021, in which he was sentenced to five years of felony probation.
On Monday, Senior Judge Stephen Dunn sentenced Richards to five years of probation after suspending his prison sentence of three years fixed and five years indeterminate.
Part of his parole conditions are compliance with the treatment court and completion of the program. He must also serve 100 hours of community service.
Background
According to the affidavit, around 3:30 a.m. Aug. 18, an officer with the Idaho Falls Police Department saw a man on a skateboard heading north on Saturn Avenue in the middle of the road.
The man was holding a flashlight but did not have a reflector or light behind him, which is against Idaho code.
The officer followed and watched the man skate into the parking lot of Motel West on 1540 West Broadway Street. The affidavit states the man made a “quick diversion” which made the officer to think it was a reaction to being followed.
At the motel, the officer watched the man get off his skateboard and leave it behind at the bottom of the stairwell. He then ran up the stairs and tried to hide from the officer.
The affidavit states that the officer recognized the man as Richards, got out of the car, and yelled out to him. Richards came back down the stairs but placed something on the upper landing.
The officer talked with Richards about needing a reflector or light as he was not visible from behind in the roadway, as he was not visible.
Richards got agitated and fidgety while the officer spoke with him and tried to go back upstairs. The affidavit states that multiple times, Richards acted as if he was going to walk away from the officer.
He told the officer he was there to see an ex-girlfriend, which was later confirmed to be true, but he didn’t know which room she at in at the hotel.
The officer asked him if he was on probation, and he confirmed that he was, but got more upset and accused the officer of harassment.
Richards then told the officer he did not have a curfew on his probation and that he’d been fixing a car at a friend’s house all night.
The officer asked to search his belongings, but the man denied consent, claiming the officer was harassing him.
The officer informed him that part of her job is to help probation officers ensure parolees are abiding by the terms of their probation for the reason of the search.
Richards again tried to walk away but was detained by the officer. Later, he was informed that his probation officer would be contacted.
Another officer then arrived, and Richards grabbed his skateboard and tried to ride away. He was handcuffed, and police got his backpack at the top of the stairs.
The man told officers that the bag did not belong to him and then ran across Broadway towards a storage facility in handcuffs with an officer chasing him on foot. He was later caught and arrested.
In a search of his person, a person found a marijuana grinder and $1,589 in cash. The officer found a plastic bag with a crystal-like substance inside of the backpack.
The contents of the plastic bag were tested and came back with a positive for methamphetamine.
Officers also found 150 counterfeit fentanyl pills, a tooter, four Tramadol pills, three Vyvanse pills, dab containers, marijuana, THC dispensary packaging containers, plastic tubing tooters, three partial glass pipes with round bulbous ends, and burned reside.
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