Cloquet man sentenced to 45 months for selling morphine

A Cloquet man caught selling morphine has been sentenced to 45 months in jail.
Derek Kaley Friedman, 29, pleaded guilty to one felony count of third-degree sale of a controlled substance and was sentenced in Carlton County Court earlier this month.
Friedman had already accrued four criminal points on past offenses, so 45 months was the presumptive sentence. As part of a plea agreement, however, Judge Robert Macaulay stayed Friedman’s sentence for three years and ordered him to three years of supervised probation. Friedman was also ordered to serve one year of local confinement, with credit for 31 days already served. He must abstain from the use of alcohol or controlled substances, is not allowed to possess drugs or alcohol, must undergo random testing and pay restitution of $100, as well as $310 in fines and fees. In addition, Macaulay ordered Friedman to undergo chemical dependency evaluation for an indeterminate amount of time.
According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, about 7:06 p.m. June 18, a Cloquet police informant met with Friedman in a grocery store parking lot. The informant had been assisting Cloquet detectives perform controlled substance stings and purchases from known drug dealers in the city of Cloquet.
Under recording surveillance, Friedman sold two pills to the informant for $200 in marked money.
The pills were later identified to be morphine pills, and a warrant was ultimately issued for Friedman’s arrest. Bail was set at $25,000 cash or $2,500 bond. Friedman’s public defender, Joanna Weigert, requested that he be granted pretrial supervised release, but the request was rejected by Judge Macaulay. Friedman later posted bail.
Friedman has a lengthy criminal history in Carlton, Crow Wing and St. Louis counties dating back to 2004, including charges of receiving stolen property, theft of services, obstructing the legal process, underage consumption, aiding and abetting theft, theft of a motor vehicle, first-degree burglary, tampering with a motor vehicle, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, terroristic threats and tampering with a witness.