A local resident with a long criminal history has received a 15-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to dealing in methamphetamine.
Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Stephen Heimann cited several past offenses Thursday when he gave Ryan K. Anderson a sentence that was just five years short of the maximum allowed by Indiana law.
But Anderson, 30, will serve the final five years on probation if he meets all conditions handed down by the judge, court documents state.
That includes completing a drug treatment program within the Indiana Department of Correction.
The former Central Avenue resident was first accused of selling a gram of crystal methamphetamine to a confidential police informant for $100 on Dec. 30, 2013, the case’s probable cause affidavit states.
Two weeks later, at the same location, Anderson sold the same informant what he claimed was a larger amount of methamphetamine for $300, the affidavit stated.
However, a laboratory analysis showed the substance he sold Jan. 14 was actually an over-the-counter dietary supplement used to treat arthritis, the affidavit stated.
As a result, Anderson was eventually charged with dealing in a substance represented to be a controlled substance, a Class D felony.
While two court hearings before Bartholomew Superior Court 2 Judge Kathleen Coriden on an earlier charge of conversion were scheduled in March 2014, Anderson failed to show up both times.
Court records show that while he received a one-year suspended sentence in July 2014 from Coriden, his probation was revoked the following month.
The reason was a long gun recovered Aug. 4, 2014, in a shed where Anderson had been staying that was traced to a residential burglary that occurred a week earlier, court records state.
Although he told police he bought the weapon from another person, Anderson admitted he suspected the gun was stolen when he purchased it, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The discovery of the long gun resulted in a charge of theft of a firearm, a Level 6 felony.
The probable cause affidavits regarding the last two charges were filed Dec. 4, 2014, and Anderson was arrested Dec. 10. But the court agreed to release him on his own recognizance four weeks later.
When Anderson didn’t show up for a change of plea hearing late last March, he was arrested 10 days later, ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bond and has remained behind bars ever since.
As part of a plea bargain accepted last month, Anderson pleaded guilty to the original charge of dealing in methamphetamine.
In exchange, all other charges were dropped.
Anderson missed four scheduled meetings with his probation officer in 2012 after earlier convictions of domestic battery and disorderly conduct, court records state.
When he did appear in late July 2012, Anderson refused to provide a urine sample because, as he would later admit, he was using cocaine while on probation, court records show.
