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Testimony began Tuesday afternoon in the trial of a Warsaw man accused of dealing cocaine.
Michael Otto Hale, 32, of Winona Avenue, Warsaw, allegedly sold more than three grams of cocaine to a pair of Kosciusko County Drug Task Force confidential informants in March.
Tuesday afternoon in Kosciusko Circuit Court, both confidential informants testified they each had been arrested for dealing cocaine. Both informants agreed to work with the drug task force in return for the possibility of a reduced sentence for their crimes.
On March 20, the informants said they set up a deal with Hale to buy four "eight-balls" of cocaine. An eight-ball of cocaine is one-eighth of an ounce of cocaine.
The informants contacted the drug task force and set up a meeting to prepare for the transaction. At that time, the decision to buy only two eight-balls was made. After going over the ground rules for the transaction and performing a drug search on both the informants and their vehicle, members of the drug task force observed while the transaction with Hale took place.
The first informant approached Hale at his residence, but Hale did not trust him. The first informant then went back to the car where the second informant was waiting.
The second informant then went to Hale and went inside the house to purchase the cocaine while the first informant waited on the back porch of the house.
While inside the house, the second informant said Hale took him to a bedroom in the house and showed the informant four small bags of white powdery substance. The informant told Hale he only wanted two of the eight-balls, and the informant gave Hale $260 for the cocaine.
After the purchase was finished, the informants met with the drug task force members at a previously specified location and turned over the drugs purchased.
In other testimony, two members of the drug task force testified about how the transaction with Hale was set up and explained the process the informants went through before making the transaction with Hale.
Another witness testified the informants first met Hale at her home March 19. She did not see the alleged cocaine transaction March 20, but she arrived at the house just as Hale and the second informant were exiting the house and standing on the back porch. Although she did not see the drug transaction, she said she heard the men discussing the deal on the porch.
The trial resumed today at 9 a.m. with additional witness testimony.
