December 12, 2013
12/13/13 Glenn Gridley, 53, of Plymouth, was sentenced Thursday in Marshall Superior Court Number I to ten years imprisonment for manufacturing methamphetamine and ten years imprisonment on a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. In open court, Gridley admitted that on February 7, 2013, the equipment necessary to manufacture methamphetamine was located in his home on Bayless Street in Plymouth. He also admitted that on that same date and place he possessed several firearms which he was prohibited from doing because of a previous federal conviction of dealing in cocaine and possession of a firearm in connection with the dealing in cocaine.
Judge Robert O. Bowen approved an agreement reached between Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Nelson Chipman and defense attorney Burke Richeson, which provided for a sentence at the Indiana Department of Corrections of 10 years of imprisonment on the charge of manufacturing methamphetamine. No part of the sentence was suspended. The possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon was handled separately and was scheduled for trial by jury for November 19. However, just prior to the trial Gridley had second thoughts and plead guilty to the firearm charge on November 15, leaving the terms of the sentence entirely up to the Judge.
At the sentencing hearing Chipman emphasized Gridley’s prior convictions of serious felonies, most notably a federal conviction in 1990 for dealing in cocaine while armed and receiving a 5 year federal prison sentence. Another conviction in 2003 for possession of a firearm as a felon sent Gridley to federal prison for 28 months.
The case was initiated by Plymouth Police Officer John Weir when he received a tip from a citizen on January 24, 2013. Subsequent investigation by Officer Weir led to the drafting and approval of a search warrant of Gridley’s home. Early on February 7, Weir and several other Plymouth Police officers with the assistance of Marshall County Police and Indiana State Police executed the search warrant. Found at that time were numerous methamphetamine laboratory related items and a quantity of methamphetamine. Also found in a trailer immediately adjacent to Gridley’s home and in his yard, were seven rifles, three handguns, and several hundred rounds of ammunition including armor piercing bullets. Subsequent investigation by Detective Leo Mangus established that at least two of the handguns were originally purchased by Gridley several years prior.
Bowen ordered purposeful incarceration for the manufacturing methamphetamine charge, and ordered the sentences to run concurrently.