A South Whitley man was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday on methamphetamine-related charges in Kosciusko County Circuit Court.
Austin Reiff, 18, of 6501 W. CR 700S, South Whitley, plead guilty to dealing in methamphetamine in an amount less than three grams, a Class B felony.
For his guilty plea, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Steven Hearn agreed to drop counts two and three of possession of methamphetamine, a Class D felony, and possession of two or more chemical reagents or precursors with intent to manufacture a controlled substance.
The case was originally set for trial Dec. 6, but on Nov. 17 Reiff’s attorney, Scott Lennox, filed a motion to vacate the trial and move to a plea hearing Dec. 8.
On Thursday, Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Rex Reed accepted Reiff’s plea deal and sentenced him to six years in prison. Reed also gave Reiff a jail time credit of 166 days, which translates into 332 days of time already served. With the sentence and the credit time, Reiff will spend up to two years in prison.
Reiff was arrested June 10 , booked into Kosciusko County Jail on a $100,000 assurety bond and preliminarily charged with manufacturing methamphetamine and resisting law enforcement.
The night Reiff was arrested, he crashed his vehicle into a ditch on Syracuse-Webster Road north of Ind. 13. Reiff told Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Dept. deputies that he swerved to miss a deer. While Reiff was receiving medical attention, deputies found an active meth lab in the dash of his vehicle.
When deputies came to talk to Reiff about the meth lab, he began to run. At that point, Reiff was stunned by a deputy's Taser®.
