GREENFIELD — Facing several criminal drug charges, including one that could have sent him to prison for 16 years, Ja Qwanta Streeter instead will avoid prison entirely.
A plea agreement this week between Streeter and the Hancock County prosecutor came after the prosecutor’s main witness, a former police officer, couldn’t be reached for a hearing.
“There are a lot of moving parts in a case like this, and we were missing one of the main pieces,” deputy prosecutor David Thornburg said.
Streeter, 23, from Anderson, was facing five criminal charges, including a Level 3 felony count of dealing a controlled substance, a Level 6 felony count of dealing marijuana, and three misdemeanors.
The two sides reached the plea deal Wednesday in Hancock County Superior Court 1 after Judge Terry Snow accepted the agreement and officially sentenced Streeter to 180 days of probation.
Streeter plead guilty to possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor that came with a sentence of 180 days of probation. The remaining four charges were dismissed.
“It is frustrating, but there’s nothing we can do,” Thornburg said.
The case against Streeter appeared to be headed to a hearing to quash evidence after a previous plea agreement fell apart at the defendant’s original sentencing Jan. 23.
That’s when Streeter’s lawyer, Edward Walter, raised questions about the police search leading to the arrest last March. Walter planned to try to establish that the Fortville officer violated Streeter’s rights because the search was unauthorized.
The arresting officer, Doug Durbin, is no longer with the Fortville Police Department. He resigned last fall. Thornburg said his office could not reach Durbin and had no choice but to make a new plea deal.
Durbin had been disciplined prior to his resignation, but the sanctions dealt more with internal policies and did not involve his handling of cases, public information officer Maj. Patrick Bratton said.
Reports show Fortville Police stopped Streeter for speeding near downtown Fortville in March and searched the vehicle after detecting the odor of marijuana coming from the car.
Inside the vehicle, they found 175 pills that were packaged for individual resale, a news release said.
They also found a large amount of marijuana, marijuana brownies, paraphernalia and other drugs, along with multiple weapons, including a loaded handgun Streeter wasn’t licensed to carry, records show.
Police also said they found more than 500 rounds of ammunition in the car and several loaded magazines.
