HANCOCK COUNTY — He wanted treatment and counseling and said he only got involved in selling drugs to support his habit. Instead, an Indianapolis man facing multiple felony drug charges was sent to prison for several years.
Brandon Terrence Moss, 25, 3000 block of Grant Avenue, Indianapolis, walked into Hancock County Circuit Court in front of Judge Scott Sirk on Thursday, Jan. 2, dressed in a suit and tie. He was hoping to be sentenced to probation through community corrections, but instead left in handcuffs.
Moss was taken into custody shortly after Sirk sentenced him to 10 years in prison with seven years to be executed for a Level 3 felony charge of dealing cocaine. Moss was also given two eight-year prison sentences with four years to be executed for a Level 4 felony charge of dealing methamphetamine and a Level 4 felony charge of dealing a narcotic drug.
As part of a plea agreement, four other felony drug crimes and a Class A misdemeanor charge of carrying a gun without a license were dropped.
The three sentences will be served at the same time, and Sirk told Moss he’ll have a chance to serve a purposeful incarceration. It means if Moss gets involved in addiction and self-help programs and does well, he’ll have a chance for his sentence to be modified or shortened.
“It’s up to you to turn this around,” Sirk said.
Moss was arrested in March 2019 following a traffic stop along U.S. 40. According to a probable cause affidavit, officers from the Greenfield Police Department found bags of cocaine, meth and heroin in Moss’s vehicle.
Officials also found an unlicensed gun, $1,199 in cash, two cell phones and a scale, the affidavit said.
Moss, who had been out on a $5,000 cash or $50,000 surety bond since April 2019, told the court he took full responsibility for his crimes. However, Moss said he was only involved in selling drugs to support his own drug habit and that he was not looking to make money.
“I’m the one to blame for being in this problem,” Moss said.
Thomas Blackburn, Moss’s attorney, told Sirk that Moss was a good man who worked hard and was college-educated. But he had issues with drug addiction due to the way he was raised, the attorney said.
“He never even knew his father, who was a drug addict,” Blackburn said. “He’s an exceptional young man with one exception — he’s got a drug problem.”
Blackburn had asked the court to sentence Moss, who is a father to a young boy, to community corrections with heavy restrictions. However, deputy prosecutor David Thornburg said he had no faith in Moss’s ability to remain clean. Moss admitted during a pre-sentence investigation that he had smoked marijuana while out awaiting sentencing.
“I can’t agree with putting him on home detention,” Thornburg said. “I see nothing about being a drug addict that says you have to sell drugs.”
In the end, Sirk said while it was a good step for Moss to take responsibility for his actions, he could not overlook the fact Moss brought the drugs into Hancock County.
“You spread that danger and harm into this community,” Sirk said.
Moss also had a prior felony charge for possession of cocaine in Marion County dating from June 2018, according to court records.
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