News Photo by Julie Riddle Nathaniel Pratt, charged with attempted delivery of methamphetamine, speaks during a court hearing in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Monday.

ALPENA — A downstate man arrested before he could deliver $1,000-worth of methamphetamine in Alpena begged for leniency after he pleaded guilty on Monday in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court.

Nathaniel Pratt, 43, of Gladwin, begged Judge Ed Black to go easy on him during Monday’s sentencing after the defendant admitted he attempted to sell 14 grams of meth in Alpena.

Black, expressing sympathy for Pratt’s mental illness struggles but refusing the defendant’s request, sentenced him to 54 months in prison.

Police arrested Pratt on Jan. 5 — one of seven meth-related Alpena County arrests in two days — along with Devon Churchfield, of Midland, who in May pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine and possession of child pornography.

Pratt agreed to sell someone in Alpena 14 grams — or about 50 doses — of meth for $1,000, half of which he received via Western Union before coming to Alpena, he admitted on Monday. Police stopped Pratt before he completed the sale.

Despite numerous attempts at inpatient and other treatment, Pratt continues to make “legal missteps” by returning to drugs, defense attorney Matthew Boucher told the court.

Pratt said he takes drugs to control violent urges brought on by serious mental illness and lingering trauma as the victim of abuse.

“It’s the only thing that keeps me from hurting myself or other people,” Pratt told the judge, pleading that Black not send him to prison. Pratt currently faces distribution of meth charges in at least one other Michigan county.

Had Pratt’s offense only involved possession of meth, “I’d be right on board with you,” Black told the defendant, referencing the defendant’s plans to sell $1,000-worth of meth in Alpena. “It wasn’t just chump change,” Black told Pratt, sentencing him to two and a half years in prison, with credit for half a year served.

Also in court on Monday:

Scott Henning, 29, may plead guilty to charges of running a drug lab in his Hubbard Lake home, defense attorney Alan Curtis said on Monday. Curtis asked that Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski clarify whether Henning would be held responsible at sentencing for exposing officers who cleaned up the drug lab police found in his home to potentially harmful chemicals or gasses.

Police arrested Henning in August after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security intercepted a package containing Xanax and a large quantity of ecstasy addressed to Henning. When police raided his home, they discovered an apparent hallucinogenic mushroom lab in his bedroom, according to police reports.

Police also seized two loaded semi-automatic pistols, 435 rounds of ammunition, and a single-shot pistol found in Henning’s dresser and under his mattress, according to police reports.

According to Curtis, Muszynski dropped separate child pornography possession charges against Henning after Black remanded that case back to District Court. The prosecution had not proven a connection between Henning and the computer in his home on which police found child porn images following the drug lab raid, Black said in April.

Henning is expected back in court in September.

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Chad Kamen, 35, on Monday admitted to attempting to deliver methamphetamine on Jan. 5, an arrest separate from that of Pratt though on the same day.

Arrested with 11 grams of meth, Kamen told police where they could find other local dealers — who police arrested later that day — according to police testimony during a recent jury trial in Alpena.

Muszynski agreed to dismiss Kamen’s habitual offender status as part of his plea agreement.