Bismarck man sentenced to 1 ½ years in fentanyl case

A Bismarck man was sentenced Thursday to 1 ½ years in prison for possessing more than 200 suspected fentanyl pills. 

Michael Cowan was arrested on July 11 near 4100 43rd Street Northwest in Mandan by members of the U.S. Marshal's High Plains Task Force. Officers were looking for Cowan, who had an active arrest warrant related to alleged parole violations in a 2021 drug case, according to an affidavit.

Thursday's court proceeding was scheduled as a preliminary hearing, but defense attorney Robert Quick told South Central District Judge James Hill that the hearing would be waived and Cowan would plead guilty to one count of possession with intent to deliver fentanyl under an agreement reached with the Morton County State's Attorney's Office. Cowan previously faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000.

The agreement will run concurrent, or at the same time, as a pair of two-year straight-time sentences that Cowan is now serving since his parole was revoked after his July arrest. 

Cowan's expected release date on the parole violations is late March, and the new sentence will extend his prison time.

Assistant Morton County State's Attorney Joshua Breeze agreed with the sentence recommendation because "some additional incarceration is appropriate," he said. 

Hill accepted the guilty plea and the sentencing recommendation, saying to Cowan, "Should you come back before me you could do the full 10 years."

At the time of his July arrest, Cowan was found by a vehicle that contained 256 suspected fentanyl pills. 

Quick said Cowan was suffering from "extreme drug addiction," adding that he was "consuming up to 25 pills a day." He also denounced any possibilty of drug trafficking.