GREENFIELD — A Greenfield man will serve time on home detention after admitting he tried to pass Tylenol off as heroin during a drug deal.
Janis Davidson, 58, 421 N. State St., pleaded guilty Thursday to dealing a substance represented as a controlled substance. He accepted a plea agreement from prosecutors that ordered him to serve a two-year sentence on home detention, officials said.
Prosecutors filed a felony charge against Davidson earlier this year after he allegedly sold what investigators believed were illegal drugs to a confidential informant, according to court documents.
Police said Davidson agreed late last year to meeting the informant at a Greenfield hair salon, where he worked. Davidson gave the informant an unknown substance wrapped up in an old CVS pharmacy receipt, court documents state.
When detectives tested the substance that Davidson had given the informant, they discovered it was an over-the-counter pain reliever – not the heroin Davidson had said he was offering.
Police said they believe the substance was Tylenol, court documents state.
Selling lookalike drugs — even if their chemical makeup is, in fact, harmless — carries the same penalties as selling illegal drugs, according to state law.
Davidson was arrested in April and charged with a single Level 6 felony count of dealing a substance represented as a controlled substance. The count carries a penalty range of six months to 2½ years behind bars.
Davidson pleaded guilty to the charge during a hearing in Hancock Circuit Court Thursday before interim judge Jeffery Eggers.
Eggers ordered Davidson report to the county’s community corrections facility immediately to begin his home detention sentence.
The man will serve all of his two-year sentence on home detention. If he violates the terms of the program, he’ll be sent to jail, officials said.