January 16, 2014
01/17/14 Nathan Harrison, 23, of Wabash, Indiana was sentenced on Thursday (January 16, 2014) in Marshall Superior Court 1 to ten years imprisonment for dealing in a narcotic drug, a Class B felony. In open court, Harrison admitted he possessed on October 4, 2013, a large quantity of heroin as he was passing through the Plymouth area.
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 on the charge of dealing in a narcotic drug. The sentence included a recommendation of intense drug rehabilitation treatment through purposeful incarceration.
At 11:37 p.m. on October 4, 2013, Marshall County Police Officer Brandon Cooper observed a traffic infraction by a GMC Jimmy automobile traveling southbound on U.S. 31. The license plate light on the GMC was not working. Cooper then stopped the vehicle and approached the driver who identified himself as Nathan Harrison. Harrison was shaking uncontrollably as he attempted to light a cigarette, which led Cooper to be suspicious.
Another officer, Nick Laffoon, arrived to give assistance while Cooper walked his canine Arras around the vehicle. The dog indicated the presence of narcotics but both Harrison and his female passenger denied anything was in the vehicle. Both gave permission to search and still nothing was found. Then, upon searching Harrison closer, Cooper could feel an unusual bulge in Harrison’s pants. Eventually Harrison pulled out a plastic bag that contained 162 small packets of white powdery substance that later tested to be 68.4 grams of heroin.
Prosecutors decided the large quantity of individually wrapped narcotics was proof it was for re-sale and charged Harrison accordingly. Chipman noted that “Brandon Cooper’s perseverance, with the assistance of Arras, prevented a fairly large quantity of poison from being distributed in the Wabash area. They are both to be commended.”