Prater Gets 7 Years In Overdose Case
May 29, 2020 at 5:04 a.m.
Prater Gets 7 Years In Overdose Case
By Amanda [email protected]
Jeffery Prater, 50, of 5086 W. Corley’s Lane, Silver Lake, appeared Thursday in front of Kosciusko Superior Court I Judge David Cates and was convicted in two separate cases for maintaining a common nuisance, a Level 6 felony; and dealing a narcotic drug, a Level 5 felony.
For the Level 6 felony, Prater was sentenced to two years in the Indiana Department of Corrections, to be served consecutively with a five-year sentence to IDOC for the Level 5 felony dealing conviction. Prater has accrued 332 actual jail days credit. Prater was also ordered to pay $9,023.90 in funeral expenses restitution to the family of the 56-year-old victim Adam Arnett. Cates also rejected a referral for the Recovery While Incarcerated (RWI) program.
According to court records, on June 12, 2018, Silver Lake police responded to Prater’s residence in reference to a drug overdose, and upon their arrival they observed medics in the kitchen performing CPR on Arnett. The medics performed CPR for approximately 30 minutes before terminating resuscitation attempts and Arnett was pronounced dead.
“The most dangerous myth is that drug abuse is a victimless crime,” Kosciusko County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Brad Voelz said in court Thursday. “On June 12, 2018, five people sat around a table at Jeffery Prater’s house injecting drugs like some kind of heroin roulette. Adam Arnett died from a drug overdose at that table. Adam is not here today to tell us who caused his death. Two of the others at the table told police they watched Jeffery Prater inject heroin into Adam Arnett’s arm. Those two witnesses are now dead from drug overdoses, and their testimony died with them. Of the five people abusing drugs at Jeffery Prater’s table that day, three are dead and one is going to prison, but not for nearly as long as he deserves. The state cannot bring forth testimony from dead witnesses, and without their testimony we cannot prove to a jury what we believe Jeffery Prater did.”
At the time of the investigation, according to police reports, Prater said Arnett “was a big boy and knew the consequences,” even though a person present at the home had told Prater not to inject Arnett because of drugs already in Arnett’s system and Arnett’s history of health issues.
Prater was originally charged in the overdose case with dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death, a Level 1 felony; possession of a narcotic drug, a Level 6 felony; and the maintaining a common nuisance Level 6 felony for which he was convicted Thursday. Prater had been looking at 46 years behind bars for those charges.
The dealing a narcotic case stems from a Dec. 21, 2018, incident, six months following the overdose, in which Prater sold 0.3 grams of heroin to an undercover informant for the Kosciusko County Narcotics Enforcement Team (NET43).
On Thursday, Maria Arnett, the victim’s mother, took the stand and said Adam Arnett was one of her 10 children.
She told Cates how her son was a good son who would always help her if she needed it and that he loved to play with his children. The woman also said she believes in God and that she has prayed for Prater, even though he hurt her son.
Prater was visibly upset during this testimony, while Prater’s family in the gallery were shaking their heads and rolling their eyes.
“I can’t wait till the day I wrap my arms around him again,” Maria Arnett said, adding that she won’t allow herself to be consumed by anger or hate because she has too much to gain by seeing her son in Heaven later.
Prater’s attorney, Benjamin Nordmann out of Fort Wayne, told Cates his client has not pleaded guilty and is not guilty of causing the death of Arnett, citing a coroner’s report stating the coroner could not determine if the death was accidental or intentional.
A toxicology report revealed that Arnett died from an overdose of Citalopram, morphine and Alprazolam.
Nordmann also contended that while his client did plead guilty to maintaining a common nuisance, or otherwise a drug house, that Arnett had been with another individual somewhere else prior to arriving at Prater’s residence that day and had ingested other drugs before his death.
Nordmann also said that his client agreed to pay the funeral restitution despite all of that.
“His substance problem is bad, it’s deep and it goes back decades,” Nordmann told Cates. “The question is, do we lock up addicts or do we treat addicts?”
Nordmann asked the judge to sentence Prater to probation, as was recommended in the Pre-Sentence Investigation (PSI) Report by the Kosciusko County Probation Department, but said if Cates does decide to send his client to prison to refer him to the RWI program. The RWI program is a treatment program that upon successful completion could have a judge revisit the original sentence and reduce the terms.
“I’m very sorry. Me and my sister tried to save him that day by doing CPR,” Prater said. He also told Cates he’s been seeking treatment at the Bowen Center on his own accord for nearly six months and that “I don’t want nothing to do with that life anymore.”
“Mr. Prater, you have a significant criminal history. You chose drugs over your family, and it’s a choice you’ve made for decades,” Cates said.
Cates said written statements made by Prater in his PSI were inconsistent at best and made Cates question Prater’s credibility.
“The only consistent parts were ‘it’s always someone else’s fault,’” Cates said. “I’ve got news for you: This is your fault.”
Cates rejected the RWI referral and said Prater’s addiction has been a problem for him for decades so if Prater wants to get help, then he can do it himself.
After the sentencing, several of Prater’s family members were angry with the judge’s order.
“Adam Arnett is dead, and he leaves behind a grieving family,” Voelz said. All because of illegal drugs.”
Jeffery Prater, 50, of 5086 W. Corley’s Lane, Silver Lake, appeared Thursday in front of Kosciusko Superior Court I Judge David Cates and was convicted in two separate cases for maintaining a common nuisance, a Level 6 felony; and dealing a narcotic drug, a Level 5 felony.
For the Level 6 felony, Prater was sentenced to two years in the Indiana Department of Corrections, to be served consecutively with a five-year sentence to IDOC for the Level 5 felony dealing conviction. Prater has accrued 332 actual jail days credit. Prater was also ordered to pay $9,023.90 in funeral expenses restitution to the family of the 56-year-old victim Adam Arnett. Cates also rejected a referral for the Recovery While Incarcerated (RWI) program.
According to court records, on June 12, 2018, Silver Lake police responded to Prater’s residence in reference to a drug overdose, and upon their arrival they observed medics in the kitchen performing CPR on Arnett. The medics performed CPR for approximately 30 minutes before terminating resuscitation attempts and Arnett was pronounced dead.
“The most dangerous myth is that drug abuse is a victimless crime,” Kosciusko County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Brad Voelz said in court Thursday. “On June 12, 2018, five people sat around a table at Jeffery Prater’s house injecting drugs like some kind of heroin roulette. Adam Arnett died from a drug overdose at that table. Adam is not here today to tell us who caused his death. Two of the others at the table told police they watched Jeffery Prater inject heroin into Adam Arnett’s arm. Those two witnesses are now dead from drug overdoses, and their testimony died with them. Of the five people abusing drugs at Jeffery Prater’s table that day, three are dead and one is going to prison, but not for nearly as long as he deserves. The state cannot bring forth testimony from dead witnesses, and without their testimony we cannot prove to a jury what we believe Jeffery Prater did.”
At the time of the investigation, according to police reports, Prater said Arnett “was a big boy and knew the consequences,” even though a person present at the home had told Prater not to inject Arnett because of drugs already in Arnett’s system and Arnett’s history of health issues.
Prater was originally charged in the overdose case with dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death, a Level 1 felony; possession of a narcotic drug, a Level 6 felony; and the maintaining a common nuisance Level 6 felony for which he was convicted Thursday. Prater had been looking at 46 years behind bars for those charges.
The dealing a narcotic case stems from a Dec. 21, 2018, incident, six months following the overdose, in which Prater sold 0.3 grams of heroin to an undercover informant for the Kosciusko County Narcotics Enforcement Team (NET43).
On Thursday, Maria Arnett, the victim’s mother, took the stand and said Adam Arnett was one of her 10 children.
She told Cates how her son was a good son who would always help her if she needed it and that he loved to play with his children. The woman also said she believes in God and that she has prayed for Prater, even though he hurt her son.
Prater was visibly upset during this testimony, while Prater’s family in the gallery were shaking their heads and rolling their eyes.
“I can’t wait till the day I wrap my arms around him again,” Maria Arnett said, adding that she won’t allow herself to be consumed by anger or hate because she has too much to gain by seeing her son in Heaven later.
Prater’s attorney, Benjamin Nordmann out of Fort Wayne, told Cates his client has not pleaded guilty and is not guilty of causing the death of Arnett, citing a coroner’s report stating the coroner could not determine if the death was accidental or intentional.
A toxicology report revealed that Arnett died from an overdose of Citalopram, morphine and Alprazolam.
Nordmann also contended that while his client did plead guilty to maintaining a common nuisance, or otherwise a drug house, that Arnett had been with another individual somewhere else prior to arriving at Prater’s residence that day and had ingested other drugs before his death.
Nordmann also said that his client agreed to pay the funeral restitution despite all of that.
“His substance problem is bad, it’s deep and it goes back decades,” Nordmann told Cates. “The question is, do we lock up addicts or do we treat addicts?”
Nordmann asked the judge to sentence Prater to probation, as was recommended in the Pre-Sentence Investigation (PSI) Report by the Kosciusko County Probation Department, but said if Cates does decide to send his client to prison to refer him to the RWI program. The RWI program is a treatment program that upon successful completion could have a judge revisit the original sentence and reduce the terms.
“I’m very sorry. Me and my sister tried to save him that day by doing CPR,” Prater said. He also told Cates he’s been seeking treatment at the Bowen Center on his own accord for nearly six months and that “I don’t want nothing to do with that life anymore.”
“Mr. Prater, you have a significant criminal history. You chose drugs over your family, and it’s a choice you’ve made for decades,” Cates said.
Cates said written statements made by Prater in his PSI were inconsistent at best and made Cates question Prater’s credibility.
“The only consistent parts were ‘it’s always someone else’s fault,’” Cates said. “I’ve got news for you: This is your fault.”
Cates rejected the RWI referral and said Prater’s addiction has been a problem for him for decades so if Prater wants to get help, then he can do it himself.
After the sentencing, several of Prater’s family members were angry with the judge’s order.
“Adam Arnett is dead, and he leaves behind a grieving family,” Voelz said. All because of illegal drugs.”
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