From Decatur County Prosecutor Nathan Harter
Judd Ponsler was sentenced May 4th by Judge Tim Day in the Decatur Circuit Court. Ponsler pleaded guilty to Dealing in Methamphetamine, a Level 4 Felony and to being an Habitual Offender because of prior felony convictions. The parties entered a plea agreement to a total sentence of 16 years.
The parties agreed that twelve of those years would be executed to the Department of Correction, and four years were agreed to be probation.
The State was represented by Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Doug Brown, whom Prosecutor Nate Harter praised for his work. “It is important to me that we hold people accountable when they have led lives of crime in our community. Mr. Ponsler’s choices have landed him in criminal trouble in this community dating back to 1994, or nearly thirty years. Chief Deputy Brown held firm and obtained a conviction both for the charged act of peddling poison into our community and also for being an habitual offender.”
Ponsler has prior felony convictions for two counts of Child Solicitation as a Class C Felony, Theft as a D Felony, Operating While Intoxicated as a D Felony, another D Felony Theft, Operating a Vehicle as a Habitual Traffic Violator as a D Felony, and two separate Failures to Register as a Sex Offender, along with various misdemeanors.
“This case was built on solid evidence, provided by the hard work of the narcotics detectives at the Greensburg Police Department. In particular, it’s worth mentioning the outstanding work of Detective Mark Naylor and Chief Mike McNealy, as well as their partners at the Indiana State Police Drug Enforcement Section, without whom the case would not have come together. I am proud to have them as partners in removing chronic offenders from our streets,” said Harter.
