Business Owner Sentenced for Selling Synthetic Drugs - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

The second store owner involved in selling illegal synthetic drugs is sentenced.

35 year old Ryan Zueger was given a 2 year sentence for selling the illegal substances.

Synthetic drugs are similar to meth and marijuana, many of them are made with illegal chemicals.

Zueger and William Nickel own Big Willies in Mandan.

Nickel was sentenced last month for the crime.

The men were selling a product called Green Cross Reserve, which is made with chemicals that are illegal in North Dakota.

Once they discovered it was banned in the state, they returned it to the distributor.

That's when authorities were tipped off about the package.

Assistant Attorney General, Julie Lawyer, says "they (Zueger & Nickel) didn't care that they had been selling a controlled substance to their clientele. They didn't warn their customers that they were in danger of criminal activity themselves or do anything to recall the product. All they did was try to get a refund for the product."

"There's no dispute what happened, they ordered something, they thought they were getting something that was legal, it turned out they didn't. Rather than continue to stock that product, they rounded up that product and send it out as fast as they could," says defense attorney Justin Vinje.

However, Judge David Reich says Zueger knew and understood the risk of operating the business.

Zueger and Nickel had been charged with a similar crime in 2010.

Those delivery charges were dismissed based on a technicality.

"Mr. Zueger was essentially the brains behind the business. He takes care of the books, he does the research on products and does the ordering. And that's what he did in this case. I think there's a difference in why this defendant should be looked at differently," says Reich.

Zueger was given a 2 year sentence, Nickel a 1 year sentence.

As part of their sentence and probation they are not allowed to have or be in contact with any kind of synthetic drugs, legal or not.

This condition makes it illegal for the men to be in their own business as long as it sells those items.

Both men plan to appeal their case.

Their prison time is on hold until the North Dakota Supreme Court makes a decision on the appeal.