A 55-year-old Hutchinson man arrested back in December and charged with the sale of drugs saw the earlier case dismissed and a new case filed against him.

What is becoming a pattern with Deputy District Attorney Tom Stanton, he has been filing racketeering charges against suspects for selling drugs.

That’s the case with Carl Cunningham who is now charged with racketeering which is a level 2 felony with a sentencing range of between 109 and 493 months in prison.

Stanton also charged two additional counts, both in the alternative to the racketeering charge. Both includes alternate theories of the sale of methamphetamine and those two charges are level 3 felonies with a sentencing range of 46 to 83 months in prison.

Cunningham is alleged to have been selling the meth and received proceeds from the sale of the drugs in a period between December 15 and 17 of last year.

He had been free on a 50-thousand dollar bond, but with the original case dismissed, he now had to arrange for the bond to be posted again.

Cunningham is no stranger to the law having served time for various drug convictions in both Reno and Sedgwick counties.

The new case now moves to a waiver-status docket on May 20, in front of Magistrate Judge Randy McEwen.