New Albany Police on Tuesday cited seven stores that they say sold synthetic marijuana to undercover officers in violation of a new city ordinance prohiting the sale of such products. Police Chief Todd Bailey said the stores were each fined $50 as called for in the ordinance passed last November. Products displayed by officers in a news conference included Kimchi Blueberry Spice, Candyman Blends, Fuego Spice, Nirvana Spice and Buddha's Blend Spice ranging in price from $9.99 to $16.04 per package, typically 1.5 grams. [continues 275 words]
Appeals Court Backs Indiana Troopers The The Indiana Court of Appeals issued a ruling yesterday in a Clark County case that may make it easier for police, without a search warrant, to gather evidence from places they believe might house methamphetamine labs. The court ruled that the smell of ether from an apartment where a small child was present was enough to justify searching the apartment without a warrant. A statewide organization of defense attorneys said the ruling amounts to a new exemption in meth cases to the constitutional prohibition against unreasonable searches. [continues 865 words]
Defendant's Notes Taken Improperly The Indiana Supreme Court yesterday suspended Washington County Prosecutor Cynthia Winkler from practicing law for 120 days and her chief deputy for 60 days in a case in which they surreptitiously took handwritten notes from a drug defendant during a deposition. The suspensions will begin after the high court arranges for a temporary replacement prosecutor. Yesterday's ruling stems from a May determination by a hearing officer for the court's Disciplinary Commission that Winkler and Blaine Goode, her deputy, violated the Rules of Professional Conduct for Indiana attorneys while prosecuting the drug charges in 2003. [continues 713 words]
Prosecutor: First Suspect Falsely Confessed BROWNSTOWN, Ind. -- Prosecutors dropped charges yesterday against the man originally accused of killing 10-year-old Katlyn "Katie" Collman, and then charged a second suspect with murder. Jackson County Prosecutor Stephen Pierson said Charles "Chuckie" Hickman, 21, who was arrested Feb. 2 and charged with Katie's murder, had confessed to a crime he did not commit. "It is unusual . but certainly not unheard of," Pierson said in a statement. At a press conference, Pierson said he had filed a motion seeking the death penalty against Anthony Stockelman, who previously had been charged with molesting Katie and now also faces charges of murder and confinement. Stockelman, 38, of Seymour, Ind., appeared in Jackson Circuit Court yesterday on the new charges. Pierson said there "was much more evidence to come" and that there might be other suspects in the case. Katie was reported missing on Jan. 25 after running an after-school errand at a store near her home in Crothersville, Ind. Her body was found five days later, her hands tied behind her back, in a creek at Cypress Lake, about 20 miles north of Crothersville. According to police, Hickman said Katie was abducted in an effort to scare her after she witnessed methamphetamine activity at a local apartment complex. Referring to Hickman's account of the crime, Pierson said yesterday that "it now appears that the alleged sighting of a meth lab by Katie Collman was more false information provided by Mr. Hickman." The Indiana State Police Crime Laboratory presented additional evidence in the case this week, according to a state police affidavit. Lab results showed on Wednesday that Stockelman's DNA matched DNA found on the binding material used to tie Katie's hands behind her back. Pierson has declined to reveal what was used to bind her hands. DNA also led to the molestation charge filed against Stockelman on April 6. His DNA was matched that day to semen found on Katie's body and to a cigarette butt found near the creek, the affidavit says. The lab also determined on Thursday that fibers found on Katie's body "cannot be . eliminated as originating" from carpet at a home where Stockelman's mother lived. [continues 689 words]
Initial Suspect To Be Cleared, Sheriff Says Charles "Chuckie" Hickman's Charges Will Be Dropped Ten-Year-Old Katlyn "Katie" Collman Was Found Dead In January Authorities Said They Plan To Charge Anthony Stockelman, 38, Of Seymour, Ind., In The Murder Of 10-Year-Old Katlyn Collman Authorities plan to drop murder charges against Charles "Chuckie" Hickman in the death of a 10-year-old Crothersville, Ind., girl and to charge a second suspect today. Jackson County Sheriff Jerry Hounshel said the county prosecutor, Stephen Pierson, told him yesterday that he would charge Anthony Stockelman, 38, of Seymour, Ind., with murder and criminal confinement in the death of the girl, Katlyn "Katie" Collman. [continues 490 words]
CROTHERSVILLE, Ind. -- Katlyn "Katie" Collman was remembered yesterday at her funeral as a child who cheered those around her during her short life. And in death, she is inspiring calls for her community to tackle the problem of drugs head-on. Katie was killed Jan. 25 because people she saw using or making methamphetamine were afraid she would report them, authorities have said. More than 600 people attended Katie's funeral at the Crothersville Community Schools gym. All of them came to their feet when family friend Terry Gray announced a plan to buy the Penn Villa apartments -- where Katie is said to have seen the drug activity -- to "tear them down and build a playground." [continues 544 words]
Most Aimed At Cutting Supplies Indiana lawmakers have filed at least seven bills this session aimed at curbing illegal methamphetamine use and production. Most of the proposals try to choke off the supply of meth's main ingredient, dry forms of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine found in some cold and allergy medicines. The bills would require that those medicines be kept behind store counters and sold only by licensed pharmacists or certified pharmacy technicians. Most of the bills also would limit the number of pills that could be purchased at one time and require buyers to show photo identification and sign a log when buying the remedies. [continues 662 words]
Drug Courts Called Vital In Treating Addiction Kentucky and Indiana lawmakers expect to consider legislation next year that would tighten the sale of ingredients used to make meth and increase treatment for addicts. Central to both states' plans are bills designed to severely limit the sale of cold and allergy drugs that contain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient for making methamphetamine. The legislation in both states will be based at least in part on an Oklahoma law that directs retailers to keep cold and allergy drugs that contain pseudoephedrine behind counters, requires customers to sign a log and limits how much can be bought in a month, lawmakers said. [continues 850 words]
A Floyd County Jail guard has been charged with giving an inmate a pack of cigarettes that, according to a police affidavit, contained methamphetamine. Allen Ray Jr., who has been fired, has admitted that three times in the past month while on duty he gave cigarettes to inmate Keith Woods, according the affidavit filed by Detective Jeff Topping. But Ray, 40, of New Albany, denied knowing that the illegal drug was in the cigarette packs. An internal affairs investigation that was begun in August initially examined only the delivery of the cigarettes. [continues 215 words]
Pair accused of trafficking with prisoners The administrator of the Washington County Jail and a sheriff's deputy have been charged with dealing in prescription medicines that reportedly were stolen from inmates at the jail. Jail administrator Joel Jackson faces 10 felony charges and four misdemeanor counts of official misconduct in connection with the alleged drug activities. The deputy, Timothy Martin, faces five felony charges and one count of official misconduct. Jackson and Martin were arrested at the jail Tuesday night after being questioned by Indiana State Police as part of a two-month investigation, according to Washington County Prosecutor Cynthia Winkler. [continues 440 words]
The jury that last week found the son of the Floyd County clerk guilty of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute failed to agree yesterday on a second charge, one that could add years to his prison sentence. The Floyd Superior Court jury deliberated 31/2 hours before telling Judge Richard Striegel that it could not decide whether the marijuana conviction and four earlier, unrelated convictions mean Tony Farnsley is a habitual felon. The same jury took only 21/2 hours Thursday to convict Farnsley, 40, in connection with a package shipped last August to the home of his mother, Floyd County Clerk Eugenia Freiberger, that contained more than 10 pounds of marijuana. [continues 396 words]
Crime in housing complex is down since arrests in 2001 An 18-month investigation dubbed Operation Bulldog - which resulted in drug charges against 58 people - has reduced illegal drug activity and related crimes in New Albany's public housing, police and residents of one housing complex say. Undercover officers made more than 100 purchases of crack cocaine during the operation, which ended with the arrests in August 2001. Since then, 26 federal defendants have been convicted on charges related to cocaine distribution, said Susan Brooks, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. One other federal defendant died while his trial was pending, and two are fugitives. Another 29 people were charged in Clark and Floyd county courts. [continues 420 words]
State police in Indiana and Kentucky say the number of illegal methamphetamine labs they dismantled last year soared over the total for 2001. Indiana State Police took 732 labs apart last year, a jump of 34 percent from the 546 labs in 2001. The number of labs dismantled by Kentucky State Police nearly doubled, leaping to 297 last year from 156 in 2001. And early indications this year point to even larger numbers. ''Here we are the (eighth) day of the month and we've already had 22 labs,'' said Sgt. Dave Phelps, an Indiana State Police Dismantling Team leader in Indianapolis. [continues 563 words]
