PORTLAND, Ind. — A Jay County woman convicted of dealing in a narcotic drug has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Melissa Lee Bickel, 46, of Pennville, was sentenced recently by Jay Circuit Court Judge Brian Hutchison.
Her husband, Brian Scott Bickel, 29, pleaded guilty to the same crime and received a 22-year sentence with six years suspended. Upon his release from prison, he will be on probation for six years.
Jay County sheriff’s deputies reported when they served a search warrant at the couple’s Pennville home on July 9, Brian Bickel was observed removing a syringe from his arm.
The deputies reported both Bickels showed signs of drug ingestion, including “slurred speech” and “confusion,” and had “many injection sites all over their arms, legs and wrists.”
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Among the items seized from the Maple Street home were 14 grams of heroin, 16.25 grams of meth and a “couple hundred used syringes,” along with many plastic bags and weighing devices, including a set of scales. The search warrant had been obtained based on allegations of drug dealing at that location.
Four other dealing charges against both defendants, along with counts of unlawful possession of a syringe and possession of paraphernalia, were dismissed under the terms of plea agreements.
According to court records, Michelle Bickel had earlier been convicted of crimes including obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, possession of meth, possession of a narcotic drug, unlawful possession of a syringe and theft.
Brian Bickel had earlier convictions for possession of meth, unlawful possession of a syringe and theft.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Jay County couple sentenced for drug-dealing convictions