HANCOCK COUNTY — A couple who were given a work release sentence that allowed them to avoid jail time for felony drug crimes have been found to be in violation of the program designed to help them rehabilitate.
Grant Hoefener, 33, Indianapolis; and his wife, Crystal Hoefener, 28, Anderson, were originally placed in the Hancock County Community Corrections work-release program when they were sentenced in June. They had been involved in a near-fatal drug overdose in a Greenfield motel room in 2017 and faced multiple felony drug charges as a result. Although prosecutors sought prison time for both, Judge Scott Sirk agreed to the more lenient sentence in hopes the Hoefeners would turn their lives around.
Both, however, were re-arrested in October and charged with prescription drug violations. Late last week in Hancock County Circuit Court, Sirk found both defendants to be in violation of the rules of community corrections.
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The Hoefeners where immediately taken back to jail, where they’ve been since they were re-arrested. A disposition hearing is slated for 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3.
In June, Grant Hoefener received a six-year sentence for a Level 5 felony charge of possession of methamphetamine and for four Level 6 felonies. He was to serve a total of five years: 2½ years on work release and 2½ years on home detention. One year of the six-year sentence was to be suspended.
Crystal Hoefener received a nine-year sentence for a Level 3 felony charge of possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony and a misdemeanor. She was to serve one year on work release; two years on home detention; and six years on probation.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in support of the latest charges, Grant Hoefener was accused of providing his wife with pills she had not been prescribed, bupropion, a generic form of Wellbutrin. He would leave the pills in their vehicle, and then she would sit in the parking lot of community corrections and snort the pulverized pills, the affidavit said.
There were also questions as to how Grant Hoefener was getting the prescription pills, since he had many more pills — 189 Gabapentin pills and 522 bupropion pills — than he had been provided through prescriptions. Buproprion is an antidepressant; Gabapentin is an anti-convulsant medication used in treating epilepsy. It also is used to treat nerve pain.
During the fact-finding hearing, the prosecution contended both Hoefeners violated the terms of community corrections for not turning in all their prescription drugs. The Hoefeners’ attorneys argued that if Grant Hoefener was out working during the day, there would be no way for him to get back to the facility to take his prescribed pills. It made sense, therefore, to carry medication during the day.
In the end, Sirk rejected the defense arguments, including an accusation that prosecutors were picking on Hoefener because they didn’t like him.
“It’s not about liking anybody,” Sirk said. “It’s about following the rules.”
The case has been a tough one for prosecutors and the probation department. Deputy prosecutor David Thornburg has thought all along the Hoefeners should have been sentenced to spend some time in prison, while the county’s probation department recommended they be given a shot at rehabilitation.
