NAPA-  A Napa man was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years of probation after pleading no contest to transporting a controlled substance into Napa State Hospital and passing it to a patient in the visitor center.

Napa State Hospital Police arrested Richard Christopher Dahlgren, 63, on April 11, 2016 after he was seen on surveillance video passing something hidden between dollar bills to a patient.  The hidden object was a capsule containing methamphetamine.   It was later discovered hidden in the patient’s undergarment.

“Napa State Hospital police have a unique job in that they are protecting patients, most of whom are sent the hospital after committing violent, heinous crimes, the staff, and visitors,” said Alan Barcelona, president of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA).  “Illegal drugs have no place in this world, let alone in a facility dealing with the criminally insane and the mentally ill.”

Dahlgren pleaded no contest in September and was sentenced November 16, 2017.  He is scheduled to begin his sentence on December 29.