Thursday morning, Kosciusko County Circuit Court Judge Rex Reed took two plea deals under advisement and sentenced a similar case.
Bruce D Gross, 43, of Wabash; Jaclyn Skeens 27, of Warsaw; and Justin C. Simpson, 30, of Goshen, were all before the court Thursday for plea hearings.
Reed decided that it would be best to hear all three cases before the court due to their similar nature.
Gross was charged with two counts of dealing a schedule I, II or III controlled substance, a Class B felony.
Skeens was charged with trafficking with an inmate, a Class C felony, and possession of a controlled substance, a Class D felony.
Simpson is charged with dealing in methamphetamine, a Class B felony, resisting law enforcement, a Class A felony, and possession of methamphetamine more than 3 grams, a Class A felony.
Gross and his attorney, Michael Reed, submitted a plea agreement to Reed in which Gross would plead guilty to dealing a schedule I, II or III controlled substance, a Class B felony, in return the state of Indiana would drop the second count.
According to the plea agreement, Gross would not be sentenced to more than six years in prison. The penalties for a Class B felony range from six years to 20 years, the advisory sentence is 10 years. Reed took Gross’s plea deal under advisement until Feb 23.
Simpson and his attorney, Jay Rigdon, proposed their plea deal to Reed as well. Under the plea agreement that Simpson signed, he would plead guilty to dealing in methamphetamine, a Class B felony, and the state would dismiss counts two and three.
By the terms of the plea agreement, Simpson would be sentenced to an executed sentence of six years. Reed took the plea deal under advisement until Feb. 23.
Simpson was arrested in mid October after a brief police chase that ended at Syracuse Lake after a staged drug buy.
Kosciusko County Drug Task Force members bought methamphetamine from Simpson on County Line Road near Ind. 13. When the DTF moved in to arrest Simpson, he took off on a scooter and evaded DTF officers for nearly 10 minutes before crashing into Syracuse Lake.
Skeens and her attorney, Rigdon, submitted a plea deal to Reed in which Skeens would plead guilty to possession of a controlled substance and dismiss count one trafficking with an inmate, a Class C felony. According to the plea agreement, Skeens would be sentenced to one year in jail.
Immediately after the plea deal was proposed, Reed accepted the deal and asked if there was any reason why he should not sentence Skeens at that time. Both Rigdon and Chief Deputy Prosecutor R. Steven Hearn had no objection.
Reed sentenced Skeens to one year in the Kosciusko County Jail for her part in sending powdered Oxycodone and Phentermine in a card to her husband at the Miami County Correctional Facility in Peru last year.
Corrections officers intercepted a recorded conversation between Skeens and her husband, Roy, in which Skeens told her husband the he could expect a package containing drugs soon.
After investigators spoke with a postal worker in Pierceton, where the letter was sent from, Skeens was identified as the person who mailed the package. Investigators also matched her handwriting to the package.
