COLUMBUS, Ind. — A court hearing on a bail reduction request for Jeremy Sweet was delayed Tuesday after the Bartholomew County Jail reported he was quarantined with a number of other inmates after positive cases of COVID-19 were reported in the cell block.
Sweet is among a group of inmates exposed or testing positive for the virus at the jail, who have been quarantined and confined in one cell block, court officials said. Sweet, 39, of 1415 N. County Road 850E, is charged with a Level 1 felony neglect of a dependent resulting in death, accused of intentionally placing his daughter Emma, 2, in a situation that endangered her life and health and resulted in her death. He is being held in the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $1.2 million bond (or 10% cash) since his arrest Thanksgiving Day weekend.
Jeremy Sweet
Sweet has told multiple versions about what happened regarding the death of his daughter, Emma, whose body was found in a debris field in the East Fork White River at 11 a.m. Nov. 28 by a firefighter searching from the riverbank. Public defender Aaron Edwards has been appointed to represent Sweet in court.
Sweet also is facing a Level 6 felony charge of possession of a hypodermic syringe, which investigators said was found on his person by paramedics when he was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital on Nov. 26. CRH paramedics located a syringe and an empty corner cut baggie (drug paraphernalia) on Sweet’s person, the probable cause affidavit states. Sweet also faces a habitual offender enhancement that stems from a 2007 conviction of operating an illegal drug lab, as well as a March 2016 conviction of dealing in methamphetamine, according to court records. If convicted of all charges, Sweet could be sentenced to more than 62 years in prison with the habitual offender enhancement.
For the complete story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
