GREENFIELD — A 20-year-old drug dealer will spend no more than four years behind bars after admitting he sold meth out of his Greenfield home.
Gurinder Khera pleaded guilty Tuesday to a Level 4 felony charge of dealing methamphetamine and a Class A misdemeanor of carrying a handgun without a license.
The plea came as part of an agreement with prosecutors that asks the court to sentence him to 10 years, with no more than four years spent in jail or prison.
Hancock County Superior Court 1 Judge Terry Snow took the agreement under advisement. Khera will return to court April 6 for sentencing. Police began watching Khera in July after several suspicious packages en route to his home in the 900 block of Sheets Court were confiscated by the U.S. Postal Service in Indianapolis.
During the next few months, police watched Khera’s mail and intercepted more packages headed to and from the West Coast, including one containing a handgun.
Khera was arrested in October after Hancock County Sheriff’s Department investigators searched his home in Greenfield’s Copeland Farms subdivision.
In Khera’s bedroom, police found narcotic drugs, including methamphetamine and cocaine, and drug paraphernalia, such as scales and packaging material, which police said suggested Khera had been dealing for some time.
Khera was originally charged with five felony charges and two misdemeanors: a Level 3 felony count of dealing methamphetamine; a Level 5 felony count of possession of methamphetamine; a Level 6 felony count of possession of cocaine; Level 6 felony counts of dealing marijuana and maintaining a common nuisance; a Class A misdemeanor of carrying a handgun without a license; and a Class B misdemeanor of possession of marijuana.
The highest charges — a Level 3 felony related to dealing meth — was adjusted to a Level 4 felony in court Tuesday, which carries a penalty range of two to 12 years.
The remaining charges will likely be dismissed at the sentencing hearing next month.
Khera’s arrest was the first major bust by the sheriff’s department’s new narcotics detective, who was hired in the fall to be an undercover investigator and handle drug cases across the county.
The Hancock County Council used council used $100,000 from the county’s reserve funds to add the additional detective to the police force after local law enforcement officers expressed concerns about the county’s drug problem.