HANCOCK COUNTY — A Muncie man facing serious felony weapon and drug charges was sentenced last week in Hancock County Superior Court 1 and will spend multiple years in prison after a plea deal was accepted.
Jeremy A. Staats, 38, was sentenced on Thursday, July 22. He was given a nine-year sentence in the Indiana Department of Correction with six years to be executed and three years suspended for a Level 4 felony count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.
Staats was also sentenced to four years in prison with two years to be executed and two years suspended for a Level 5 felony count of possession of methamphetamine.
The sentences, handed down by Judge D. J. Davis, will run consecutively, meaning Staats is facing several years in prison for an incident in March 2021. As part of the plea agreement, a Level 6 felony count of unlawful possession of a syringe and a Class C misdemeanor count of possession of paraphernalia were dismissed.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers from the Fortville Police Department conducted a traffic stop on a speeding vehicle on March 4 in the 5400 block of West State Road 67.
Staats was a back-seat passenger in the vehicle, the affidavit said.
Officers ended up conducting a search of the vehicle and its occupants and found a loaded handgun, paraphernalia and 7.5 grams of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine in Staats’ possession.
The driver and front-seat passenger had lesser charges filed against them that were assigned to Hancock County Superior Court. 2.
