A third and final defendant in a drug distribution ring was sentenced Thursday to jail after pleading no contest in July.

Judge Timothy McCune sentenced Vakie Ionic Knight, 27, of Philadelphia to 14 to 36 months in prison followed by six months of probation for two counts of possession of a controlled substance.

Knight’s co-defendants were sentenced in July to similar jail terms.

Knight asked McCune for a lighter probation sentence, so that he could go back to school.

McCune asked which school Knight wanted to attend, and the defendant told him he wanted to become an electrician’s apprentice in Philadelphia.

McCune wished him luck.

Knight was arrested in October along with Quendell Mauri Owens, 25, and Mandi L. Gipson, 32, of Butler during a drug raid of an Old Plank Estates apartment.

Since then, Knight has been held in the Butler County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bond. On Thursday, McCune credited him 279 days for time already served.

According to earlier court testimony, the apartment belonged to Gipson, and Knight and Owens used the apartment for drug operations.

Police found 24 grams of crack cocaine, four stamp bags of heroin and 12 capsules of what they believed at the time was heroin during the raid, according to court documents.

Investigators estimated the value of the crack cocaine at $2,000.

The capsules later tested negative for heroin and likely were colon dietary supplements, according to previous court testimony.