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Planned drug sales lead to prison time

News File Photo The interior of the Alpena County Courthouse appears in this News file photo.

ALPENA — A casino drug buy netted an Alpena-area woman a year-and-a-half behind bars.

Judge Ed Black in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Monday sentenced Sydnie Chadwick, 26, to 19 months to 20 years in prison for buying fentanyl at a casino near Bay City in June.

Chadwick admitted in December that she and a man who bought the drugs with her intended to sell the fentanyl in the Alpena area.

Chadwick has battled a substance use disorder most of her life, defense attorney David Elder told Black, asking the judge to consider Chadwick’s youth in sentencing.

Chadwick was under the influence of both drugs and another person from downstate when she was pulled into the fentanyl scheme, Elder said.

While he doesn’t like sentencing young people to prison, Black said, the amount and seriousness of the drug Chadwick brought into Alpena County necessitated a serious sentence.

Once Chadwick returns to Alpena, she needs to seek help staying sober, Black told the defendant and her attorney, because, after serving time, “it’s a hell of a lot easier to get back to prison.”

Also in court on Monday, Robert Kowalski, 50, admitted he planned to sell $9,000-worth of methamphetamine and large quantities of fentanyl to Alpena-area residents, pleading guilty to multiple drug charges.

Police caught Kowalski with meth and fentanyl multiple times between March 2020 and June 2021, discovering drugs in his vehicle, including large quantities intended for sale. Kowalski also admitted he used drugs as payment for work done on his house.

Kowalski agreed to plead guilty to the charges in exchange for an agreement that his sentence won’t exceed seven years’ incarceration.

He is scheduled for sentencing on March 21.

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