A Columbus man who was shot in a suspected drug dispute two years ago has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for dealing drugs, about a year after he recovered from the shooting wounds.

Alberto Avitia, 40, sold cocaine to police informants twice and marijuana once to police informants in the spring of 2011, according to a probable cause affidavit.

He was charged with two counts of dealing a narcotic drug, both Class A felonies, and dealing marijuana, a Class D felony. Avitia agreed to plead guilty to one of the dealing narcotics charges and to serve a 20-year prison sentence in exchange for prosecutors dropping the other charges.

Bartholomew Circuit Judge Stephen Heimann on Tuesday ordered Avitia to serve the 20-year sentence. After serving the sentence he will be taken into custody by federal immigration authorities because he is an illegal immigrant.

Avitia’s sentence is more than twice as long as the prison term of the man who shot him.

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