Cody Edward Bever
HANCOCK COUNTY — A Wilkinson man who has had trouble with drug and gun crimes will participate in the county’s drug court program instead of going to prison after a plea agreement was made.
Cody Edward Bever, 29, 6800 block of Ind. 234, was facing a Level 4 felony count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and three different Level 6 felony possession charges from an incident in December of 2022.
During his sentencing hearing Sept. 21, Bever and his attorney asked the court to give him a chance to take part in the county’s drug court program rather than sending him to prison. During the hearing, Bever told Judge Scott Sirk he’s never had a chance to straighten out his life or get the kind of real help he needs. Bever also told the court he’s ready to do what he needs to get a real chance of making a better life for himself.
Sirk told Bever he’d consider his plea, and Sirk announced on Sept. 28 that he would give Bever a chance to prove his words were true. Sirk placed Bever in the drug court program he oversees in circuit court.
However, Bever will not have a cake walk. Sirk sentenced him to six years in the Indiana Department of Corrections but suspended the time to be served for Bever to participate and complete the drug court program. Should Bever violate the terms of the drug court program, Bever is subject to spending the remainder of the term in prison.
Bever has been in the county jail since he was arrested during an incident in December 2022. Prior to the plea deal, Bever was facing anywhere from two to 12 years in prison for the Level 4 gun crime and anywhere from six months to two and a half years for each of the Level 6 crimes.
According to a probable cause affidavit, an officer with the Greenfield Police Department in the 2100 block of State Street observed a SUV that did not have a license plate on the vehicle around 11:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. The officer initiated emergency lights and conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of Broadway Street and New Road.
The report noted Bever was driving the SUV and said he did not a have driver’s license and was on his way to work. The officer stated he could see Bever’s hands shaking and asked Bever if there were any weapons in the vehicle.
Bever then told the officer he was on parole for dealing heroine, the report said. Bever then gave the officer permission to search his vehicle saying he was in a hurry and needed to get to work. That’s when officials located a gun under the driver’s seat and found a cut straw with a white powdery residue inside of it in the driver side door, the report said.
Bever told the officer he was a drug addict, the report stated. Bever went on to tell officials he had heroine, methamphetamine and pills in the vehicle.
Officers were able to find a bag and located multiple clear and red transparent plastic baggies. Inside the clear and red plastic baggies was a white powdery substance, a crystal-like substance and multiple white and blue pills, officials said in the report.
