May 17, 2013
05/20/13 Jerome Williams, 39, of Dixmoor, Illinois was sentenced today in Marshall Superior Court No. 1 to 10 years imprisonment for dealing cocaine. In open court, Williams admitted that on November 13, 2012, he possessed a large enough quantity of crack cocaine in his vehicle that supported the inference that he was a dealer of cocaine.
Judge Robert O. Bowen approved an agreement reached between Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Nelson Chipman and defense attorney Tom Black, which provided for a sentence at the Indiana Department of Corrections of 10 years of imprisonment. No part of the sentence was suspended.
The case began when Marshall County Sheriff Deputy Brandon Cooper responded to a call at the Pilot Truck Stop on King Road, where a female had been left after having been struck several times by her boyfriend, Jerome Williams. After a brief investigation, the female was arrested for public intoxication and lodged in the Marshall County Jail.
Two days later the female was released from the jail and made arrangements for her boyfriend, the accused batterer to pick her up. Deputy Cooper was notified of the arrangement and waited for Williams to arrive at the jail. When he did, Deputy Cooper arrested Williams for the battery on the female and impounded his vehicle. Upon conducting a routine inventory of the vehicle, Deputy Cooper discovered 43.5 grams of crack cocaine, a weight scale, numerous baggies, and other items used to cut, weigh and bag narcotics. Other evidence acquired points to Williams being a large dealer of cocaine in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area with weekly deliveries from Illinois.
Williams was then arrested for Dealing Cocaine, Possession of Cocaine and Domestic Battery. The Prosecutor’s Office commends Deputy Brandon Cooper for his excellent police work in apprehending a major drug dealer.