TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) – A former guard accused of smuggling synthetic marijuana into a Nebraska prison has been sentenced to probation.
Johnson County District Court records say 54-year-old Richard Fries, of Lincoln, was given five years of probation at his sentencing Monday in Tecumseh. He’d pleaded guilty to attempted delivery of a controlled substance. Prosecutors lowered the charge and dropped a second charge in return.
Authorities say Fries and another guard, Ryan Tokar, were charged after Tokar took K2 into the Tecumseh prison in October last year but couldn’t deliver it because he no longer had access to the inmate customer’s housing unit. A court document says Fries and Tokar discussed the situation and later Fries, who had the necessary access, took the K2 and left it for the inmate in a trash can in the inmate’s unit.
Tokar has pleaded not guilty to a conspiracy charge and is awaiting trial.
