A 44-year-old Linton man charged with nine drug-related criminal counts following his arrest on Valentine’s Day, was in court this month to change his plea to guilty of dealing meth. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Kevin Wayne Moore was arrested on February 14 by Sgt. Logan Hobbs of the Linton Police Department following an investigation by LPD officers and officers from other departments who are members of the Greene County Drug Task Force.

When Moore appeared in court for his initial hearing before Judge Dena Martin in Greene Superior Court, the judge set his bond at $100,000 cash in full with no ten percent allowed, and he was charged with:

• Dealing in methamphetamine in an amount of ten or more grams, a Level 2 felony,

• Dealing in methamphetamine in an amount between one and five grams, a Level 4 felony,

• Possession of methamphetamine, a Level 5 felony,

• Possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony,

• Three counts of possession of a controlled substance, all Class A misdemeanors,

• Possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor, and

• Possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.

Moore had been arrested more than once before on serious drug charges and in one of those cases, he was still on probation at the time of his arrest. In that case, a petition to revoke his suspended sentence was filed.

In the new case against Moore, an investigation had been ongoing during the months of January and February 2018. Either from surveillance activities or from a search warrant executed on Moore’s home at the time in Midland, evidence included both audio and video recordings of transactions, and substances identified by officers as methamphetamine, marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, hydrocodone and suboxone, as well as digital scales and other paraphernalia.

Moore’s case looked like it was headed to a trial by jury but in early October, Moore entered into a negotiated plea agreement with his defense counsel, Chief Public Defender Alan Baughman, and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Keven McIntosh.

Under the terms of the agreement, Moore agreed to plead guilty of Count 1, dealing in methamphetamine, a Level 2 felony, and the State agreed to dismiss the other counts as well as the petition to revoke his suspended sentence in the earlier case.

Sentencing was left to the discretion of the judge but was not to exceed a total of 20 years, with the executed portion not to exceed 16 years.

When Moore appeared before Judge Martin last week, on Thursday, November 1, she approved the terms of the agreement and sentenced him to the maximum allowed under the agreement.

Moore was sentenced to 20 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with four years suspended, leaving him 16 years to serve in prison. He was given credit for 261 days already served. He will receive good-time credit, if eligible, for days already served and future days but under Indiana law, since he was convicted of a Level 2 felony, he is required to serve at least 75 percent of his time, or 12 years. Following his release, he would be required to serve the four suspended years on probation.