Cosmos, Minnesota, man sentenced to 21 months in prison for receiving stolen property

Dale Morin And Susan Lunneborg, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·2 min read
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May 26—LITCHFIELD

— A 30-year-old

Cosmos

man was sentenced to 21 months in prison and was ordered to pay more than $8,600 in restitution for receiving stolen property.

Cody Ryan Sander was sentenced on the amended charge on March 7, 2023, in Meeker County District Court. According to the sentencing order from Judge Stephanie Beckman, Sander was also ordered to pay $8,659.31 in restitution before paying other court fines and fees.

Sander initially pleaded guilty in April 2022 to the amended charge as part of a plea agreement for the original charges to be dismissed — motor vehicle theft and fifth-degree drug possession. He failed to appear for the sentencing hearing scheduled in July.

Sander appeared for the March sentencing via video link, as he has been incarcerated since September for a felony fifth-degree drug possession conviction in Wright County, for which he was sentenced to 36 months in prison.

Sander's expected release date from prison is May 6, 2024, according to the Minnesota Department of Corrections website.

According to the criminal complaint, a Meeker County sheriff's deputy was dispatched around 9:40 p.m. on June 1, 2021, to an accident at the intersection of Minnesota Highway 24 and Meeker County Road 34 in Litchfield and found a silver pickup truck lying on its side in the south ditch.

Sander was the driver, and according to the complaint, told the deputy that the truck belonged to a friend. Sander appeared nervous, and but there were no signs of impairment when the deputy performed field sobriety tests.

After the deputy ran the license plates on the truck, he learned that it was reported stolen.

According to the complaint, Sander told the deputy that he had borrowed the truck from a friend in Stewart earlier the same day but did not provide a last name and couldn't recall the exact address. Sander said that the friend had driven the truck to the city of Kimball and given the vehicle to him there.

The deputy then called the registered owner, who said that he had parked his vehicle about 200 feet off the road near an outbuilding in the 34000 block of 717th Avenue near the city of Kimball after moving hay bales, according to the complaint.

The man said the truck was unlocked with the keys inside, but he did not give anyone permission to take it.

According to the complaint, after Sander was arrested, a search yielded a pink plastic bag that field tested positive for methamphetamine.

Sander's state public criminal history record shows he served a prison term starting in October 2018 for a conviction of storing methamphetamine paraphernalia in the presence of a child/vulnerable adult in Kandiyohi County.