Morgantown man gets 10 years for meth, handgun
A 39-year-old Morgantown man was sentenced to 10 years in prison last month after he pleaded guilty to possessing more than 10 grams of methamphetamine and carrying a handgun without a license.
Christopher Nealy was sentenced to 10 years on March 9 after he pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine exceeding 10 grams, a Level 4 felony, and carrying a handgun without a license with a prior conviction, a Level 5 felony.
Last May, Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy William Pool and Det. Paul Henderson found Nealy on Calvin Cemetery Road in Brown County. Henderson was trying to find him in connection to several cases, and the officers knew he had an active warrant out of Marion County. He was taken into custody on May 31, according to a probable cause affidavit.
After he granted consent to search his truck, police reported finding 12 grams of meth and a 0.45 caliber handgun with an obliterated serial number.
Nealy was formally charged on July 8.
“Our officers received some intelligence, they acted upon it and they secured a dangerous individual while seizing a substantial amount of illegal narcotics,” Prosecutor Ted Adams said in a press release.
“This highlights what our community can do in combating the scourge of drugs in our community: If you see something, say something. Law enforcement may not always be able to immediately act upon the information, but the intelligence we gather will put individuals on our radar and can accumulate to an eventual arrest.”
Adams added that Nealy had an “extensive criminal history” including six prior felony convictions and 11 prior misdemeanor convictions in addition to open cases. He had open warrants and felony cases out of Marion, Morgan and Johnson counties, according to Adams’ press release.
Adams argued for the 10 year sentence. That sentence will run consecutively with the sentences in the Marion County cases Nealy will be required to serve.
“Mr. Nealy will be in prison for quite some time. It is my desire that he participates in the rehabilitative programs offered by the Indiana Department of Corrections,” Adams said.
Jury convicts man of possessing paraphernalia
In less than 30 minutes, a Brown County jury found a 40-year-old Shelbyville man guilty of possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.
Jeremy Cox was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over for multiple violations, including a broken frame. Cox gave Indiana State Police Trooper Matthew Hatchett consent to search him, and Hatchett reported finding a socket that smelled like marijuana, according to a press release from Prosecutor Ted Adams.
Cox told police that he used the socket to smoke tobacco. He was cited and was allowed to leave the scene.
During the trial, Cox argued that there was not enough evidence that he intended to use the socket illegally despite it being found in his front pocket. The socket was analyzed by the Indiana State Police Lab, which determined the presence of marijuana, according to the release.
“I offered Mr. Cox a $25 fine for having the socket. The defense argued that marijuana is legal elsewhere and that they were willing to go to trial,” Adams said in the release.
“This is not Marion County. Our office does not back away from threats of jury trials when fair offers have been made and when we can prove a violation of the law beyond a reasonable doubt. ”
Adams continued that his office will “continue to fairly uphold the law and continue to offer fines for marijuana violations.”
“On the other hand, if a person intends to push our office into a jury trial in an effort to get our office to flinch and dismiss a case, we will seek a more stringent sentence if that person is convicted after expending the resources to do so,” he said.
On March 10, Cox was sentenced to serve eight days in the Brown County jail.
“This was a calamity. Mr. Cox is a three-time convicted felon and was offered a simple $25 fine. Instead, he exercised his constitutional right in a huge gamble of resources, and now he is going to execute jail time,” Adams said.
Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tracey Yeager convicted Cox at jury trial and Adams argued the sentence.
Public Defender Greg Bowes argued Cox should be spared jail time because of how other jurisdictions are handling marijuana.
Adams countered that Indiana still has not legalized marijuana, that Hoosiers know this. He said that changing attitudes about marijuana are taken into account when fines like $25 are offered.
Police: Man violated protective order, injured woman
LAKE LEMON — A 44-year-old Bloomington man faces two misdemeanors in Brown County after police say he violated a protective order and injured a woman as he tried to enter her home on March 3.
Just after 10:30 p.m., police were dispatched for a physical domestic dispute on North Shore Drive. As Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholson Briles was responding to the home, dispatch told him that the man had left the home and was heading toward Monroe County.
The victim told officers that Wade Jackson had showed up at her home and he was not supposed to be there due to an active protective order. She said she was in bed when she heard a knock on her door and opened it without looking to see who it was, because she thought it was a friend.
Jackson then tried to push the door open. The victim placed her foot behind the door so he was not able to open it all the way, the affidavit states.
The victim told Jackson to leave, but he claimed he needed to use her restroom. She said that due to the force Jackson was using on the door, she had to move her foot because it was causing her pain.
Once in the home, Jackson went into the bathroom and began yelling at the victim, but never did anything else physical to her, according to the affidavit. As she began to call 911, Jackson left the home in his vehicle.
The victim told police she had believed Jackson had been on her property the previous weekend. When she arrived from work, she noticed her outside lights were missing bulbs. A small boat in her backyard was flipped over and it appeared someone tampered with it, she told police. The water to her home had also been shut off, and she reported finding a water bottle filled with urine in a shed on the property, the affidavit said.
Police arranged for extra patrols in the area.
On March 18, Jackson was charged with invasion of privacy, a Class A misdemeanor, and battery resulting in bodily injury, a Class A misdemeanor.
