Man convicted of local drug, weapons charges

A Terre Haute man who was arrested on drug and weapons charges at a Cloverdale motel last August is facing 20 to 50 years in prison after a jury found him guilty earlier this week.

On Wednesday, a Putnam County jury convicted Mark A. Chandler, 47, of dealing in methamphetamines, a class A felony; possession of methamphetamines, a class C felony; and possession of a switchblade knife, a misdemeanor.

Last August, a Putnam County Sheriff's deputy was responding to a call at the Cloverdale BP gas station when a woman approached him from the nearby McDonald's restaurant stating that someone was trying to kill her.

The woman led sheriff's deputies to Chandler who was sitting in a car near the gas station. Officers searched the car and found 47 grams of methamphetamines and a safe containing $1,500 in cash, according to a police report.

Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter said, at the time of Chandler's arrest, that the amount of methamphetamines found by the police was significant. They also found several knives in Chandler's possession.

The woman who approached the sheriff's deputies at the gas station, told police she and Chandler went to the Cloverdale Econolodge together and that when she refused Chandler's sexual advances, he threatened to kill her and "throw her in the river."

Police officers searched Chandler's room at the motel where they found a set of scales, and a bag containing white crystals. Bookwalter said the drugs found were in crystal form, which indicates they may have not been manufactured locally.