There is jail time coming, but a former Emporia State student was sentenced Friday to probation after a plea agreement on drug distribution counts.
Caden Hunt, age 20, will have to start his sentence with a 60-day jail sanction. However, Lyon County Judge Jeff Larson made a so-called border box finding, based on Hunt’s criminal history category of I — the lowest on the state’s grid — and thus sentenced Hunt to 18 months probation with an underlying prison term of 30 months.
Hunt was originally charged in late November with over 15 counts of drug-related activity, mainly revolving around the alleged distribution of cocaine, LSD, marijuana, cannabinoids and psilocybin. He accepted a plea agreement to three counts of cocaine distribution last month.
Hunt told Judge Larson he has been clean for several months following his arrest, the first time in four years he had reached that milestone. He also says he attends regular Narcotics Anonymous and youth recovery programs as well as attending church. His plan is to attend Missouri-Kansas City while developing a career at UPS.
Judge Larson, for his part, mentioned Hunt’s charges as possible evidence of a “sustained operation” but made the border box finding in part due to Hunt’s age.
