June 19, 2013
06/20/13 Adam Wagers, 23 years of age, of Grovertown, was sentenced Wednesday in Marshall Superior Court 1 to fourteen years imprisonment for manufacturing methamphetamine, a Class B felony. In open court, Wagers admitted he manufactured methamphetamine on March 7, 2013 in a building located in the 1000 block of N. Plum Street in Plymouth.
Judge Robert O. Bowen approved an agreement reached between Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Nelson Chipman and defense attorney Ed Ruiz, which provided for a sentence at the Indiana Department of Corrections of 14 years of imprisonment. Four years was suspended. In exchange for the plea of guilty to manufacturing methamphetamine, the State agreed to dismiss a count of possession of meth, maintaining a common nuisance, possession of chemical reagents or precursors with the intent to manufacture a controlled substance and conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.
The case began when Marshall County Police Department Deputy Brandon Cooper stopped a vehicle on February 8, 2013 and it was discovered an occupant of the vehicle had a warrant for his arrest. A search of that individual revealed drug paraphernalia. Upon that discovery, the individual offered to show Officer Cooper where he purchases his methamphetamine for consumption, and indicated that the persons at that location cook up to 16 boxes of pseudoephedrine based products a night in the manufacture of methamphetamine. With that information surveillance of the premises began and revealed a long list of visitors to the location, all with long histories of methamphetamine or precursor arrests, and extensive histories of pseudoephedrine based product purchases.
A search warrant was then prepared and approved on February 27, 2013 by Judge Robert O. Bowen. The warrant was executed at approximately 5:30 pm on March 7, 2013. Several persons were arrested at the location on Plum Street in Plymouth, including Wagers who was crawling out a back window of the building into the waiting arms of Officers Jonathon Bryant, Brandon Cooper, and Indiana State Police Troopers Keith Bikowski and Brandon McBrier. In Wagers’ possession at that time were five coffee filters with white powder residue that field tested positive for methamphetamine. Located in the building were several active methamphetamine labs, several old, inactive and discarded labs and numerous items of methamphetamine precursors and lab components.
Chipman noted, “This was a virtual meth factory in our midst that excellent police work closed down for good.” Chipman added, “The fourteen years of imprisonment for Mr. Wagers is a reflection of the seriousness of the offense and the numerous prior chances he had with prior sentences to cease his involvement in the methamphetamine trade.”