From the Courts - State District Court: Man sentenced to probation for distributing drugs in jail, to follow sentences in other cases

Shawn Keith Rosette was sentenced to five years probation for obtaining and distributing drugs while in jail, to follow five- and three-year sentences in other cases.

Rosette was charged Aug. 12 with two counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and two counts of transferring illicit materials, all felonies, after detention center personnel found the drug suboxone concealed in letters sent to him in the jail awaiting action in the other cases.

Rosette was charged in May with two felony counts of criminal criminal conspiracy to distribute dangerous drugs, heroin and methamphetamine, and two felony counts of criminal possession of those drugs after a Tri-Agency Task Force investigation.

He was out at the time on a suspended sentence for failure to register as a sexual offender at the time.

June 23, in a plea agreement, Rosette pleaded guilty to one of the counts of conspiracy to sell drugs and admitted violating conditions of his release on the suspended sentence.

State District Judge Kaydee Snipes Ruiz revoked the suspended sentence for the failure to register charge and resentenced Rosette to three years with the State Department of Corrections with the recommendation he be screened and placed in treatment, and gave him credit for 164 days served.

She sentenced him to five years in the Montana State Prison, all suspended, on the drug charge, crediting him with 102 days served and ordered the sentences to run at the same time.

Sept. 14, he pleaded guilty to one of the Aug. 12 counts of transferring illicit materials in a plea agreement and Snipes Ruiz sentenced him to five years with the DOC, all suspended, to start after any other sentences he is serving, and ordered him to pay $80 in fees and surcharges.