FARGO — One of the men arrested in one of several raids carried out during a joint multi-agency effort to target people selling fentanyl pills in the community

Spike in overdoses in August 2022

He was sentenced to ten years in prison on Tuesday afternoon.

Shermaine Lewis was one of three people taken into custody after the Red River Valley SWAT team executed a search warrant at a south Fargo apartment on Oct. 25, 2022. Officers found large quantities of fentanyl pills, cocaine, marijuana, and prescription medications, as well as large quantities of fentanyl pills, cocaine, marijuana, and prescription medications. During the search, several weapons and more than $21,000 in cash were seized.

Lewis and two other men, Rickey Walker and Aaron Bennett,

They were first charged in state court

Conspiracy to possess opium with intent to manufacture or distribute, one count each.

In March 2023, Lewis was federally indicted along with another man, Ian Shack, on drug trafficking conspiracy charges. Shack also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this year.

Lewis pleaded guilty in June. At sentencing, Chief Justice Peter Welte noted that the offense level calculation for Lewis’ offense was higher because he possessed three handguns, including one with the serial number erased.

Welte said he had concerns about Lewis’ interest in guns and added details about a lawsuit filed against Lewis in Minnesota’s Ramsey County. This case is Lewis’ St. It stemmed from a 2021 traffic stop in which he allegedly fled from St. Paul police and dodged a custom-made 9mm polymer handgun loaded with a 30-round magazine while officers were searching for him. The K9 later located the gun and DNA analysis matched it to Lewis, Welte said.

Lewis, who turns 25 in a few days and is originally from Mississippi, told the court when he was arrested that he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time” and although he may have made some mistakes, he said he wasn’t. He said that he was a bad person and that he hoped to be able to spend time with his 3-year-old son before he grew up.

Welte sentenced Lewis to a mandatory minimum of ten years in prison and said he would leave it to the Bureau of Prisons to calculate how much credit Lewis would receive for time already served. Lewis’ attorney, Luke Heck, had previously asked the judge to give Lewis credit for the more than two years he remains in custody, starting with the 2022 arrest, rather than starting the statute-barred credit with the 2023 federal indictment.

One of the other men Lewis was arrested with in Fargo was also federally charged late last year. Bennett pleaded guilty to fentanyl trafficking in July and is scheduled to be sentenced later this month. The third man, Walker, pleaded guilty to the state’s charges in May 2023 and was sentenced to five years in state prison. State Department Department of Corrections records show he was released on parole in July.