ERROL KELLY JR.

IRON MOUNTAIN — A Kingsford man will spend at least 2 1/2 years in prison after being convicted on multiple drug counts, including dealing heroin.

Errol Kelly Jr., 33, was sentenced in Dickinson County Circuit Court to 30 months in prison on three counts of the delivery or manufacture of a controlled substance.

He could spend as many as 20 years in prison for selling heroin to a confidential informant in controlled transactions.

Kelly was to have been sentenced May 7, but that was postponed over whether he trafficked heroin across state lines, which would have changed the guideline scoring range.

But Dickinson County Circuit Court Judge Mary Barglind found after a hearing May 10 that Kelly’s offenses were properly scored.

Kelly’s attorney, Greg Seibold, said his client’s actions were the result of a “misguided sense of sympathy.”

Kelly previously had said he did not profit from the deliveries and believed was only supplying the heroin to a person suffering from withdrawal. He initially pleaded not guilty Feb. 19 but changed to guilty on amended charges after reaching a plea agreement.

In exchange, Dickinson County Prosecuting Attorney Lisa Richards agreed to drop a habitual offender-second offense notice, which would have increased the maximum sentence for each count from 20 years to 30 years in prison.

Richards also said she would not seek consecutive terms.

Barglind did recommend Kelly participate in the prison’s alternative incarceration program, or boot camp, after 18 months of his sentence.