An self-confessed member of the Aryan Brotherhood gang who begged a judge to give him drug treatment instead of jail learned he had worn out all his opportunities for additional chances in the Bartholomew County criminal justice system.
Jarred A. Parton, 27, who gave his address as 13500 N. U.S. 31 in Columbus, which is his girlfriend’s address, was sentenced Thursday to 921 days in the Indiana Department of Correction for possession of methamphetamine and an additional 921 days in state prison for failing to return to Community Corrections detention as ordered.
Bartholomew Circuit Judge Kelly Benjamin credited Parton with 146 days served between July and December and ordered him to pay court costs and a public defender fee. That means Parton would serve five years and eight months, although he could be released after serving half of that time with good behavior.
Parton told the judge he intended to appeal the sentence.
Parton still faces two pending charges in Bartholomew Circuit Court, one relating to the Aryan Brotherhood. Parton testified that he continues to be a member of the group, despite a pending felony charge of criminal gang activity.
Parton was arrested in November on the felony criminal gang activity charge and misdemeanor battery after a year-long investigation into the Aryan Brotherhood by Bartholomew County law enforcement. He was one of nine people arrested on a variety of charges related to narcotics dealing, burglaries, and vehicle thefts and attempts to sneak drug contraband into the Bartholomew County Jail.
While in the local jail on those charges, just days after his arrest, Parton was charged with punching an inmate in the nose at the jail Nov. 15, resulting in the victim suffering a broken nose that will require surgery, Bartholomew County sheriff deputies said. Parton was then additionally charged with Level 5 felony battery resulting in serious bodily injury, according to court records.
Parton was later moved to an Indiana Department of Correction facility after the incident, while the victim was being held in the jail’s medical unit, according to court officials.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.